In Sickness And In Health
by rangergirl1234
Summary: Steph hasn't been feeling well. Ranger has to go off on a mission. Steph ends up passing out. Bobby to the rescue. First try at FF. Please R&R. Eventual HEA with Babe and Ranger. Some smut in chapter 12 and forward.
1. Chapter 1

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing her characters for fun and am not making anything from the story. Enjoy.

_(This story picks up with Stephanie working for Ranger at Rangemen. She has been doing apprehensions and also assisting in the control room. She has not been feeling well for several weeks, and Ranger has to leave on an assignment. Please review and let me know if you like the direction the story is going in. It's my first attempt at a FanFiction.)_

Stephanie's POV:

"Good morning Babe", Ranger said, as he stroked a soft kiss across my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked into his deep brown eyes.

"Good morning, what time is it?" I moaned as I snuggled down under the covers in his bed, hoping that Ranger wasn't planning on making me start exercising this early.

"It's 5am" he said. Ranger continued to place soft kisses on my skin and made soft circles on my neck with his tongue.

I squinted at the clock on the bedside table. I started to raise myself up on my elbow, and realized I had moved too soon. The room started spinning and my head was pounding. Now I remembered why I had turned in early last night. This headache had been going on for weeks. At first I thought it was the flu, but now I just don't know. Does the flu last for weeks? Ugh.

"Not feeling any better, Babe?" Ranger asked. He had tried to get me to concede to going to the doctor for the past two days. I had even skipped my shift in the control room last night, in favor of lying in Ranger's bed, and sleeping. SLEEPING! Me, Stephanie Plum, sex maniac, simply slept in the Wizard's bed. Ranger had Hector cover my shift and asked Ella to bring up some hot tea and toast. I nibbled on it, but ended up turning in around 7pm, feeling drained and exhausted.

"Not really. I think I just need some more rest."

"Babe, you have done nothing but rest for the past 2 days. You haven't been yourself for months now. I am having Bobby come up in a bit and check on you. Then, he is going to make an appointment for you with the doc."

"No, Ranger, I am fine…really! Besides, what are you doing up and dressed at this time of day? I really don't feel like I can go down to the gym this morning. Honestly, I just…"

Ranger interrupted me by placing his finger over my lips. It was then that I noticed a small duffel bag packed and sitting on the end of the bed. Ranger wasn't dressed in his usual t-shirt and running shorts for his morning workout. He was dressed in black combat pants, black boots, his black long sleeved shirt that clung to him in all the right places, and a Kevlar vest. He was in full Ranger mode. His gun belt was full and loaded around his waist.

"No gym this morning. Lester and I are going on an apprehension. Nick Alagaro and his family are believed to be making counterfeit money. The Feds have been looking for him for a while. He is scheduled to arrive in Atlantic City tonight. I hope to be back in a week. Two weeks tops. Depends on how long it takes us to work our way into his inner circle. I want you to stay here and rest!"

I nodded and agreed with him. "Rest…that's exactly what I need. I'm sure I will be feeling better by the time you are back. I will cover Lester's shift today …."

"No you won't Babe," Ranger interrupted. "Hector is covering it, and Tank will have the schedule for the rest of the week covered by this afternoon. I have left strict orders that you are not to work or cover any shifts until you are feeling better. That means no FTA's either. Steph, you really don't look well. Headaches, dizziness, nausea…those don't last weeks. Really, Babe!"

"Ranger, I am FINE", I glared, doing my best to intimidate him in my frumpy state. "I think I'm just a bit under the weather. It will pass. "

"Steph, I'm still sending Bobby up to check on you. Do what he says and don't argue…Please!" Ranger replied.

Please. Why does he have to use that word. He rarely uses it, and when he does, it melts me like butter. Even in my less than perfect state, he sends me to my knees.

Ranger took my hand and kissed my palm. Then he turned it over and kissed my finger tips, working his way up my arm and eventually making his way to my neck and my ear. He let out a deep groan and ran his fingers into my hair. He tugged it slightly, and laid me back onto the pillows.

"Babe, I'm going to miss you," he whispered, his voice all husky in his throat. His hands were gliding across my knee, up my thigh, over my hips. His fingers traced the lace on my underwear, and then he slid his hand under his Rangeman t-shirt that I slept in. I had no bra on, and he rubbed his hand across my back and my shoulder blades. He pulled me to him and I inhaled the heavenly scent of Ranger.

"I'm going to miss you too," I sighed. Please be careful. Will you be able to call?" I replied, as I snuggled into his chest.

He propped himself up on one elbow, and looked at me. He stroked my face and began talking. "I'm leaving Tank in charge. He will know how to get in touch with me while I am away if it's an emergency. He has the numbers. Otherwise I won't be in touch. It's just for a week or two. If you are well enough, you can take a shift or so next week. Just let Tank know. Want me to send Ella up with some breakfast? You didn't eat that much last night."

"No thanks. I don't think I could keep anything down right now. I think I'll just lie here a little longer, and then I'll get up and shower. Maybe I'll visit mom later today.

"Babe," Ranger replied, "you already feel bad. You're just asking for it if you do that."

I nodded and knew he was probably right. The last thing I wanted was my mother fussing over me. I'm sure she'd be cooking her Monday night meatloaf, and the thought of it made my stomach flip. Normally, I would love meatloaf. And all the things that went along with it. Mashed potatoes, peas, rolls, and of course upside down pineapple cake. But right now, the thought was making me feel like my stomach was on a roller coaster ride.

As I tried to clear the images from my mind, another wave of nausea swept over me and I threw the covers off. I pushed past Ranger and barely made my way to the cool tile of his bathroom. I slumped to my knees and started dry heaving. I hadn't eaten very much at all in the past few days, and now there was nothing more to come up. But that didn't stop me from the vicious dry heaving at the toilet. I should have been embarrassed, but my dignity was way beyond repair at this time.

Ranger came into the bathroom and wet a washcloth. He handed it over to me, and pulled my hair back from my face. He rubbed my back as I closed the lid to the toilet and laid my head down on its' cool lid. I closed my eyes and saw stars – a result from all the dry heaving.

"You ok, Babe?" Ranger asked. "This nausea is becoming a regular occurrence for you. I don't feel good about leaving you here like this. I am going to call Bobby. He's down in the gym anyway. "

"No, please. Just help me back in to bed. Bobby can come up later and check on me, ok?" I replied. I figured a little more sleep might help, and I really didn't want any of Rangers men seeing me looking like this. I needed a serious shower before anyone else came in to the apartment. Maybe Ranger would accept this compromise. Compromise. Not something that Ranger was used to doing.

Ranger let out a long sigh, and surprisingly, he nodded. He kissed the top of my head, pushed a curl behind my ear, and picked up the bag.

"Ok Babe, I have to get going or I'm going to be late. Lester is waiting. I'm going to call Bobby and that's the end of it. Please take it easy, ok?"

I nodded and smiled my best fake smile to him. "I promise I will. Be careful, ok?"

Ranger nodded, kissed me once more, and walked out the door. I heard him call Bobby and ask him to check in on me later today. Then he asked Bobby to have Ella bring up some juice, fruit, and toast later on in the morning. Bobby must have asked if something was wrong because I heard Ranger say "she will be fine. She's just a little under the weather. No, she won't be working today. Yeah, I know… put her on for the weekend if she's feeling better by then. No, she hasn't been to the doctor. Good luck trying to get her to go." He paused, and then said "Yeah, thanks. Tank has the emergency number and all of the information about the case."

I heard him shut and lock the apartment door, and then I drifted off to sleep. I woke up several hours later and made my way to the bathroom. I could still smell the wonderful scent of Ranger- the mixture of Bulgari still lingered from his shower earlier. After using the bathroom, and washing my face, I squeezed out some of Ranger's toothpaste onto the spare toothbrush that he kept in his apartment for me. I tried my best to brush the nausea from my mouth but only succeeded in gagging each time the toothbrush raked across my tongue. Blech! The nausea was still there. And the headache was worse. I padded back to the bedroom and saw that Ella had brought Ranger's suggested fruit, juice, and toast into the bedroom while I was sleeping. I'd have to remember to thank Bobby and Ella later. I sipped some of the juice and took a bite of the toast. I chewed slowly, but as soon as the food hit my stomach, I regretted the decision to try to eat something. Ugh!

I started to lie back onto the dark mahogany bed that took up a large portion of Ranger's bedroom. As I closed my eyes, and pulled at one of the overstuffed pillows, pain seized me. Cramps. Bad cramps. Shit! Is this why I have been feeling so lousy? Period cramps? Surely not. PMS is a bitch, but it doesn't usually make me feel this bad. My period had been very irregular for the past several months. The monthly spotting I had been experiencing was a nice change from the flood I was used to. My dear sister Val wouldn't know anything about that. She was angelic during her time of the month. No acne, no bloating, no cramps, no PMS. Meanwhile, I was the alien from Mars. I blew up, cramped, and got cranky. Life's just not fair. The spotting was probably from stress I imagined. And probably from the birth control pills I had recently started taking a couple of months ago. I keep forgetting to take them, and had to double up on more than one occasion. Ok, who am I kidding? I had to double up on several occasions. But rarely did I miss more than one dose, so after reading the package, I figured I was ok. I needed one of those neat watches like Ranger had to remind me to take them. The kind with an alarm. Mental note.

I curled up into a ball and pulled the covers up around my shoulders. I barely managed to drift off to sleep between cramps. They were awful annoying. About an hour later I decided to get up and shower.

I turned on the hot water, and the steam enveloped me. I showered with some of Ranger's soap, washed my hair, and toweled off. The steam had made me a little light headed but the shower had felt nice. I dressed in sweats for the day and toweled off my hair. I dried it with the hairdryer that Ranger kept in the cabinet for me. I glanced at the clock and noticed that the clock said 10:45am.

By this time I was still feeling horrible. I was putting the hairdryer away and decided that maybe a day spent watching old movies wouldn't be so bad. Ranger's television had tons of channels, so surely I could find something to watch. I took a step out of the bathroom, into Ranger's bedroom, and was doubled over with a paralyzing pain. It gripped me from deep inside and brought me to my knees. The room began to spin and before I knew what was happening, I was on the floor. The pain was relentless, tearing away at me. Much like a cramp, but much worse. I tried to stand up but couldn't. I was still on my knees, and all of a sudden, I realized that the room was spinning, and was going black. I couldn't see very well, and I couldn't hear. The room was a dark tunnel, and the bedside light was growing dimmer and dimmer. And then darkness. I passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing her characters for fun and am not making anything from the story. Enjoy.

_(Thanks for everyone's positive comments and reviews. I'm so glad you are enjoying the story. Please continue to read and review. )_

Bobby's POV (Point of View)

I was just walking out of the control room when I spotted Tank coming towards me. "Hey Tank, what's up?"

Tank walked on over, handing me some files. "Nothing much. I was just wondering if you would mind looking over these files for me. Ranger wants this new account finalized by the time he comes back, and I'm up to my neck with scheduling problems. Steph isn't feeling well and Ranger wants her off schedule for the rest of the week. Plus, one of the alarms went off in the new retirement apartments we set up last week last night. It was 2 am and the street was filled with old people in their pajamas. Talk about a night!"

"Sure. I'll work on them. But Ranger wanted me to check on Stephanie this morning. He said she's been under the weather a bit. I shouldn't be long, and then I'll work on these in the office."

Tank replied, "What's wrong with Bombshell?"

"I'm not sure. Ranger said she's been tired for months. He just said she was under the weather. He's probably been pushing her too hard in the gym. I saw them down there yesterday morning. She looked terrible, but then again, he'd just had her doing cardio for an hour and they ran 5 miles. Plus, they were still sparring when I headed up to the showers. Sometimes I think he's a little rough on her when they spar. "

"Well, Bobby, don't feel too bad for her. She's pretty rough on him too. He's trying to help her get in shape. Ever since Ranger and Steph finally got together, he's been trying to prepare her. He wants her to be able to go on some of his assignments with him, and to broaden her experience. She really has an uncanny ability to see the overall picture on some of the cases. And she's damned lucky. What she lacks in experience, I think she makes up for in just sheer luck!"

"Yeah, well, I'm sure that's not the _only_ reason Ranger wants her to go with him! Who wouldn't want her with them? I mean, she's smart, and pretty, and …."

Tank interrupted me, hitting me in the arm, "You better not let Ranger hear you say that. Or even let him _think_ you think that. Or else you'll be sparring with him when he gets back."

"Yeah, I know. But seriously, she's the best thing that's happened to him since I've known him. He needed her. Probably more than she needed him. He'll never admit that. But he's been a different person for the past 6 months. I mean, he's not exactly a softie by any means, and he still beats my ass on the mats, but he is just …different, 'ya know?"

Tank replied, "Yeah. I know what you mean."

The elevator doors shut and Tank slid his hand in the door.

"Remember, we have a team meeting in 20. Don't be late."

"Roger that. I'm just gonna go up and check on Steph, I'll be right down. " I replied. And then he let the doors shut.

I knew I was probably wasting my time going up to talk to Stephanie. She wasn't one to back down when she didn't want to do something. Getting her to go the doctor, like Ranger wanted, was gonna be about as easy as getting past Grandma Mazur without her copping a feel. I guess it was Bombshell's Italian temper. She has probably just eaten too many tasty cakes or donuts.

I knocked on the door to the apartment. No answer. I knocked again, louder this time. Maybe she was in the shower and couldn't hear me. It's past lunch time, so surely she's up and about. Or maybe I missed her on the way up. I pulled out my phone and called Tank.

"Hey Tank. Could you ask the guys in the control room if they've seen Bombshell leave the building? I'm not getting an answer up here at the apartment. I knocked, but no one's home."

Tank replied, "Hold on a sec."

I could hear him asking the guys if they'd seen Steph leave. All of them replied no. No one had left the apartment since Ranger left this morning. And that was a little after 5am.

"Nope, sorry, Bobby. The guys say that she's still there. Maybe she's sleeping, or in the shower. Do you have your keys?"

"Yeah, of course I have my keys. And the key fob. But I don't exactly think Ranger would want me going in his apartment to check on Bombshell, and finding her naked in the shower. I like my life just a little more than that!"

"Just open the door, call her name, and close your eyes! She's probably just taking a nap."

I hung up the phone and got my keys out. Dear God, please don't let her be naked. Ranger will beat the crap out of me. No, Ranger will _kill_ me. Slowly. I stuck my key in the lock, and called out her name.

"Stephanie, you in here? " No answer. "Hey Steph!" I yelled out once more.

Hmm….that's odd. I looked over the apartment and nothing was out of place. But something just doesn't seem right. She's not on the couch. The television is off. I slowly made my way into the bedroom, and the bed looked slept in. A tray of food sat beside the bed. It was hardly touched. As I rounded the corner, I found her. She was lying in the doorway between the bathroom and bedroom. Her face was pale, and her hair was spread all around her.

"Stephanie! My God! What happened? " I reached down to feel for a pulse. Thank God she had one. "Wake up Bombshell…come on wake up"! I patted her face lightly, opening her eyes to look at her pupils.

It was at this time, I noticed the blood. There was blood on the bathroom tile and the carpet leading into the bedroom. Where was it coming from? I pulled Stephanie up to me, and I saw no open wounds. I pulled her shirt up, nothing. I looked down, quickly scanning her body, and there it was. Blood was slowly seeping through her sweat pants. They must be Rangers because they hung low on her waist and were awful baggy. I could even see the lace of her underwear peaking out above the waistband. My mind seemed to be running at warp speed. "Think, Bobby, think," I told myself. I was used to sewing up cuts and bullet holes. What would be making her lose this amount of blood? Then it dawned on me. Stephanie must be having a miscarriage.

"Stephanie! Come on honey! I need you to open your eyes and look at me. Talk to me!"

Her breathing was slow, but regular. She must have passed out. I opened my phone and called Tank again.

He answered on the first ring. "Come on man! We're down here waiting on you. I told you not to be late…"

I interrupted him. "Tank get up here. Now! Something's wrong with Bombshell. Have someone bring a car down to the garage door entrance. We've got to get her to a hospital."

Tank started to say something, but I hung up before he could ask any questions. There was no time for questions. I looked around and found a thin blanket across the foot of the bed. I wrapped Stephanie in it and gently picked her up. She grunted, and her eyes flickered.

"Come on Stephanie. Wake up." She grunted again, but this time it sounded more like a moan. Carefully, I stepped over the blood in the floor, and quickly made my way through the apartment to the door. As I was about to open the door, Tank jerked the door open.

"Christ, Bobby! What happened?" Tank yelled.

I rushed past him, and he turned to follow me down the hall. "I don't know. I came in and called her name. There was no answer, and I found her in the floor like this. There's blood, Tank. She's bleeding!"

Tank said, "Where? Where is she bleeding?" as he hit the call button on the elevator.

I replied, "Down there. I think she's having a miscarriage."

The elevator opened and we both rushed inside.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing her characters for fun and am not making anything from the story. Enjoy.

_(Thanks for everyone's positive comments and reviews. I'm so glad you are enjoying the story. Please continue to read and review. )_

We stepped inside the elevator and tank hit the button for the garage. I could see the worry on his face. I'm sure mine didn't look much better. My mind was still spinning, thinking of some possible reason for her blood loss. She was still very pale, but her breathing was regular and she was beginning to moan. I hoped she was coming around. Tank hit the garage button again and again, willing it to make the elevator go faster. I was sure that all of the guys were watching on the monitors, seeing us take Steph down to the garage, and were wondering what was going on. I was trying my best to keep a blank face on, but I knew inside that they were all riveted to the monitors upstairs.

Tank rode in silence, with beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. The doors finally opened, and Tank pointed towards the waiting black Escalade that was already running. Hector was driving. Tank helped me get Stephanie in the back seat. I was still half holding her, with her head in my lap. Tank jumped in the front seat, and sternly told Hector to drive.

On a good day, we were about twenty minutes from the hospital. Today there was a heavy fog, and pouring rain. I sat in my seat wishing the rain away and praying for the fog to lift. We needed good driving karma today. Please, God, help us out on this one! Stephanie began to mumble and her eyes flickered again. I could hear Tank talking low in the front seat. He was calling Ranger. There must have been no answer, because I heard him quietly say "Ranger call me. You need to come home man. There's an emergency," and he hung up. Then he called Ella and told her about Stephanie. She must have said she would meet us there.

Stephanie grabbed at her stomach, low towards her abdomen, and curled into a ball on the seat, writhing in pain. Whatever was wrong, the pain she was in was pulling her from her unconsciousness. She opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Bobby, what happened? " Then she screamed and grabbed her stomach again.

"Steph, I found you in the apartment. I think you passed out. Tell me what's going on. What do you remember?"

"I've been sick for a while. I figured it was the flu or something. I haven't been feeling well…nausea, headaches, fatigue. Then this morning I started having cramps. I got up to go to the bathroom and that's the last I remember. Everything went black."

"Stephanie, I know this is embarrassing, but when was your last period? Are you pregnant? You've lost a lot of blood, and I'm afraid you may be having a miscarriage."

Stephanie blinked at me and I could see the shock on her face. "No, Bobby! I am not pregnant. I have been on the pill for about 4 months. And I've been irregular lately, so I'm not sure when my period was. It was lighter than usual."

Normally she would have punched me in the arm for asking her such a personal question. But the thought was interrupted by what I guessed was another cramp. She doubled over again, grabbing her stomach.

All of my medic training was swirling around in my head. Lighter periods could be anything. Maybe it was the pills. Maybe it was a cyst? A tumor? Cancer? God no, please don't let it be cancer. Think, Bobby, think!

Stephanie's cries jolted me from my thoughts. I gently pulled the blanket away from her and glanced towards the area between her legs. She was still bleeding and wasn't looking any better.

"Bobby, I'm scared. I'm in so much pain…" she cried. Then in the middle of her sobs I heard her barely whisper "Ranger….".

I glanced at Tank and realized he was not his normal color. I could see the fear in his eyes as his eyes met mine, and then he looked at Stephanie.

"Sssshhh. Don't worry. I've already made a call to him. I left a message and he'll probably call me back in just a few minutes. He'll be on the first flight back!"

Despite the rain and fog, we arrived at the hospital in about 12 minutes, thanks to Hector's driving. As he screeched to a hault in front of the Emergency room door, Tank and I jumped out and I picked Stephanie up again. Part of the blanket was saturated, and the leather seats of the Escalade would definitely need some serious detail work. Tank ran ahead of me and went to the clerk at the desk. By the time I got through the door, there was a gurney waiting on us, and I gently placed Stephanie down on it. Suddenly we were running down the hall, and a nurse told me that only one of us could go back with her. Stephanie looked at me, grabbed my hand, and said "Bobby, please don't leave me. I'm scared."

I assured her I would be right there. The medical staff wheeled her around the corner and I stopped to look at Tank.

"Call Ranger again. Keep calling until you get him. Call the office and have one of the guys get ready to go meet up with him and Lester so that he can come back. Ranger needs to be here. Our guys can handle Atlantic City."

I turned to go find Stephanie and the sound of her screams directed me towards a room. The medical staff had undressed her, and she was now wearing a pink hospital gown with blue little boxes on it. Her bloodied sweats lay on the floor in a heap. I took her hand in mine and ssshh'd her while she cried. I stood at the head of the bed, not only wanting to not interfere with the work going on around her, but also trying to afford her some privacy since her bottom half was not very well covered. A nurse was on the left taking her blood pressure, and another nurse was putting gel on Steph's abdomen, getting ready to do an ultrasound. A lab tech was preparing vials to draw blood, and a doctor was at the foot of the bed, placing Stephanie's feet into stirrups. Stephanie must have already told the doctor her name before I got in the room, because his voice broke me from my thoughts.

"Ms. Plum, could you tell me when your last period was?" the doctor asked, gently.

"I'm not sure. It's been very irregular since I started taking birth control pills. I've been on them for about 4 months. It's been irregular and very light. And a couple of months, I've had two periods. Nothing heavy. Just spotting. "

"Have you recently taken a pregnancy test?"

"No, there was no need. I've had periods and…." Stephanie tried to continue, but was cut off by the doctor.

"Ms. Plum, some women do still have a light period or occasional spotting when pregnant. But the bleeding you are having here is not normal. We're gonna draw some blood, do an ultrasound, and an exam and try to figure out what is going on. Is this your husband?"

The doctor looked expectantly at me, and Stephanie shook her head.

"No, he's a friend. But he can stay. I want him here."

I nodded and said "My name is Bobby. I am the medic for Rangeman Industry where Stephanie works. I work for Stephanie's…." and I stopped. I didn't know whether to say her boss, her boyfriend? What did they call themselves? They were together all the time. They worked together, ate together, and we assumed they slept together. She had her own apartment still on the 4th floor, but I had suspicions that it was regularly empty. Ranger and Steph had never said anything out loud about what they actually were to each other. They had just blended into a routine for the past several months. It was as if they had always been together.

"He works for my boss-slash-boyfriend."

I looked down at Stephanie and she tried to half way smile. I squeezed her hand and touched her hair.

"Ok Ms. Plum. The tech here is going to draw some blood, and then I'll examine you."

Stephanie turned her head as the technician placed a band around her arm, and drew 5 vials of blood. The nurse had finished her blood pressure check and I heard her tell the doctor "150 over 105" for her blood pressure reading.

"Ms. Plum, do you have hypertension? Have you ever had problems with your blood pressure? Are you on medication?"

Stephanie looked at me quizzically, and said "No, never. Or at least not that I am aware of."

I looked towards the doctor and said "Stephanie's blood pressure has always been within normal limits during our employee physical assessments. "

The doctor slipped on some gloves and raised the sheet covering Stephanie's legs.

"Stephanie, this may hurt for just a minute. But we need to see what's going on."

Stephanie shook her head and looked towards the wall. Tears were streaming down her face and I squeezed her hand. I gently wiped the tears away, and felt her grip strengthen and saw her close her eyes as the doctor examined her. She grimaced and I could tell that the doctor was making the pain worse.

I whispered, "It's ok Steph. Just a few more minutes. Hang on and it'll be over in just a minute."

The nurse was still standing nearby, with the ultrasound probe in hand. The doctor looked towards her and said "Give me the vaginal probe instead. "

The nurse quickly detached the probe in her hand, attached another probe, and began to wipe the gel from Stephanie's stomach. The doctor performed the ultrasound, apologizing when Stephanie moved or grimaced.

Finally it appeared that he was done. He placed Stephanie's feet back on the bed and he covered her back up with a sheet. He turned the monitor towards us, pointing to the center of it, and on the screen I saw the black and white image. I immediately knew what I was looking at, and my heart skipped a beat. Stephanie, squinted and looked at me.

"I don't see anything doctor," she stammered. "What is it? What's going on?"

"Ms. Plum, by my measurements you are approximately 23 weeks pregnant. By my estimation, your baby weighs about a pound and a half right now. It appears that you may be having a placenta abruption. This happens when all or part of the placenta tears away from the uterus. It can be brought on by many things….trauma, increased age, drugs, high blood pressure, or being pregnant with multiples. Among other things."

Stephanie looked truly shocked. I wasn't sure that she was hearing what the doctor was saying. But my worst fears were coming to life. I had suspected a miscarriage. From my quick round through the maternity ward during my training, I had learned enough to know they were dangerous and often resulted in miscarriages. I placed my hand on her shoulder, and looked towards the doctor.

"Doctor, is the baby alive? Will it survive?"

"The baby is alive. Right now it appears that Stephanie's abruption is partial. But it is very serious. That would explain the blood loss you have had. The headache's you've been having are probably a result of your high blood pressure. Sometimes hypertension comes along with pregnancy. We will have to watch you closely for signs of toxemia. And the nausea and tiredness…well that's just a symptom of pregnancy. You probably passed out from the blood and fluid loss. We are going to do our best to save your baby. But 23 weeks is early for delivery. Very few babies survive that early. I'm going to be honest with you. At this point, your baby only has a 15% chance of survival. We need to do our best to hold labor off at this point. "

Stephanie still looked shocked. "How can this be? I am on birth control."

The doctor sat down on a small stool. "Ms. Plum, no birth control is 100% effective except abstinence. And when you add in the factor of possibly not taking the pills regularly, or at the same time…well, let's just say it's not 100% dependable. However, by the information you are giving me, I think you may have been pregnant when you started the pills. It's possible that you had been recently impregnated, and when you went for your exam and prescription, you were too early to diagnose as pregnant. Did they do a pregnancy test while you were there?

Stephanie shook her head no. "I didn't think there was any need."

"No problem. It was probably too early to detect anyway. No matters. Right now we have to focus on keeping this baby inside you for as long as possible.

The doctor stood, and then seemed to have a thought. "You do want to continue the pregnancy, Ms. Plum. Correct?"

The thought clearly had not crossed Stephanie's mind. Instinctively, she drew a hand to her stomach, where a pregnancy bulge should be. To be 23 weeks pregnant, I could see no physical evidence, and would probably not have believed it if I had not just seen the image with my own two eyes.

"Yes. Please do everything that you can. Just because I didn't know about this child doesn't mean that he or she won't be loved. "

I spoke up to the doctor. "Stephanie has not gained any weight during the past 6 months. In fact, she's lost weight. I thought it was because of her training schedule, but I remember that she had lost at least 8 pounds at our last employee weigh in/assessment…"

The doctor cut me off and said "Some women do not gain that much weight early on. Most of the weight is put on in the last 3 months. Right now her baby is barely over one pound. And with her nausea and extreme exercise routine, it's possible that she has lost weight. It probably wasn't a contributing factor to the abruption, but you're going to be in bed – strict bed rest- until the baby is born. And you'll have to remain in the hospital. We can deliver you here, but the best place for you to deliver would be in Newark. They have a state of the art NICU. They are better prepared to handle this sort of thing. The baby could be born as early as today. Or you might get lucky and be able to hold the delivery off for weeks. It all depends on how the abruption continues, and if we're able to stop the blood loss. We will have to get you stable before we can even consider moving you. It's about an hour away."

Stephanie and I nodded our heads and the doctor continued. "I and am going to get you started on a blood transfusion, and some magnesium to hold off your labor. We'll start an IV, and administer some steroids in addition to fluids. The steroids will increase the chance of your baby surviving. Babies born this early usually have very underdeveloped lungs. The steroids act as a surfactant, and will hopefully have time to assist in maturing the child's lungs. Your cervix is already dilated, so you are going to be on complete bed rest. In addition, once you get to Newark, they will probably put you in a special position to make sure your head is lower than your feet. This helps take some of the gravitational pressure off of your cervix. Hopefully this will keep you from continuing to dilate."

I could tell that all of this was too much for Stephanie. She was rubbing her temple with one hand, biting her lower lip, and still had one hand over her stomach. Instinctively protecting the small child in her womb.

"Doctor when will Stephanie be able to be transferred?" I asked.

"Hopefully soon. We'll do another blood count, to see if the blood loss is slowing, and then we should be able to send her by ambulance in a couple of hours. "

"What about a helicopter? Can we send her by chopper?" I asked.

"We could, but with the weather, I'm not sure we can get one in right now. The ambulance may be just as fast."

I knew that Ranger would pull out all the stops if he was here. Ranger was not only my boss, but also my friend. He had asked me to take care of Stephanie while he was away, and I wasn't going to let him down. I pulled out my phone and made a call to Tank.

"Tank we need a chopper here at the hospital. There's a landing pad up on the roof of the parking garage. We'll be headed to Newark NICU. I need you to make it happen ASAP. Like yesterday."

I shut my phone and looked at the doctor. "I'll have a chopper here in 30 minutes" I replied. "Can you please call Newark NICU and tell them we will be on the way?"

The look on the doctor's face was sheer surprise, but he simply nodded and walked out of the room. I turned to Stephanie and looked at her. Her color was still pale, and her curled hair lay in a mess around her head. She was still clutching her stomach, and breathing through another cramp. I held her other hand, and stroked her fingers.

"You know, this is going to be a good story for the kid when he gets here. You and Ranger will be able to tell him how we commandeered a helicopter just for him." I tried to make a joke of it and gave a half hearted laugh.

"Bobby, what if something happens? What if the baby doesn't make it? Here I was thinking I never wanted kids. Or at least not right now. And now I'm having one and I didn't even know I was pregnant. What kind of mother doesn't even know she's pregnant?"

Stephanie was getting all worked up, and the tears were flowing even harder now.

"It's ok Steph. You heard the doctor. Between the birth control pills, and the weight loss, it's not like you are having a typical pregnancy. But it's going to be ok. I promise."

Just then Stephanie had a scared look on her face. "Ranger! Oh my God, what will Ranger say? He doesn't want kids. We've never even talked about it. He has Julie already and I doubt that he will…."

I put my fingers to her lips and made sshhing sounds. "Ranger will want this child because it is a part of you. It's a symbol of your love. You _do_ love him, right Stephanie?"

Stephanie nodded. "Bobby I love him more than life itself! But you know Ranger doesn't always communicate his feelings very well. What if he comes back and is angry? I swear I didn't do this on purpose. I had no idea I was pregnant!"

"Stephanie, calm down honey. It takes two people to get pregnant. And I believe you when you say you didn't know. I feel sure that you wouldn't have been sparring with him like I've seen you do. And all those take down's you've been doing…". I didn't continue the sentence. I doubted Stephanie had thought that far yet, and I didn't want her thinking this was her fault. She had been doing apprehensions with Ranger for months now. There were times when she was put in serious danger. She had fallen multiple times running after FTA's. Once she had even fallen from a balcony, but only had a bruised hip and ego. She had been roughed up more times than I wanted to remember, even with Rangeman employees assisting her with the takedowns. It wasn't anything serious, but now, knowing she had been pregnant the entire time….it made me really wonder if this child was going to be ok.

I smiled my best fake smile and said "Trust me. I promise Ranger won't be mad. Just trust me. "

Stephanie bit her lower lip as she breathed through another cramp. She started to say something else, but a nurse knocked on the door and brought in a monitor with two straps attached. She explained the machine to Stephanie, telling her it was to monitor the baby's heartbeat and that it would print out a recording of it every so often. She also said that it would accompany her to the NICU and that they would take care of sending it back. She strapped the stretchy belts around Stephanie's slim stomach. I still had trouble thinking that there was an actual baby in there. Once the monitor was hooked up, we were able to hear the 'swoosh swoosh swoosh' of the baby's heartbeat. Stephanie laughed a soft laugh, and then began to cry.

"It's really true, Bobby. I'm really pregnant. Do you hear that? That's my baby. Ranger's baby!"

I smiled at her and then there was a knock at the door. Tank stepped in and said the chopper was ready for us. The nurse looked at the monitor, and said that Stephanie was having some moderate contractions. She hung the magnesium, and some other meds, and hung them on a pole at the end of the gurney.

"Ms. Plum, I wish you the best. Good luck with your pregnancy."

She turned towards me, with her back towards Stephanie. "Please try to get her there quickly. Her contractions are coming every 8 minutes or so. They aren't in a regular pattern yet, but it's just too early. They will continue to try to stop them in Newark, but the quicker she's there, the better."

I nodded, signaling my understanding of the gravity of the situation, and thanked the nurse. I turned towards Stephanie, trying to hide the fear on my face.

"Ready to go Bomber? Your chariot awaits!" Stephanie smiled and took my hand, and Tank and I helped roll her gurney down the hall towards the elevator.

"Were you able to get in touch with Ranger?" Stephanie asked Tank.

Tank glanced at me and shook his head no. "But that's ok, Bombshell. We'll find him. Even if I have to go to Atlantic City myself and bring him back in the chopper."

Stephanie laughed a quiet laugh. I could tell she was worried, but was trying not to show it.  
We made our way to the landing pad, and one of the hospital staff helped load Stephanie in the chopper. The hospital was sending a labor and delivery nurse with us, along with a doctor, and Tank had assured them we would make arrangements for them to be returned to Trenton after the chopper ride to Newark. I turned towards Tank as I was hoisting myself into the chopper when he spoke.

"Bobby, I will call Ella and tell her the change of plans. Also, I'll have her bring Stephanie some things to the hospital. Can you think of anything else?"

I looked at him as the chopper blades swirled above me. "Yeah, one more thing. Find Ranger. And get him to Newark as fast as you can. Otherwise, this baby may be born without him."


	4. Chapter 4

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing her characters for fun and am not making anything from the story. Enjoy.

_(I can't believe the positive encouragement I have been receiving for this story. It's my first attempt at fanfiction, and your encouragement has warmed my heart and made me want to keep writing. Thanks again! )_

Tank's Point of View

"Come on, Ranger, pickup!" I growled as I tried to call Ranger for the 10th time. Hector was driving again, and had pointed the Escalade back towards Haywood. As we pulled into the garage, we were met by almost everyone in the core team that was on duty. Everyone had concern etched on their faces. I had known them long enough, worked with them long enough, to know exactly what they were all thinking. But none of them uttered a word. Everyone had a deep respect for Ranger. So I knew that was part of the concern. But Stephanie had a way of endearing herself to each and every one of us. I knew there was nothing that these men wouldn't do for her. Not only for Ranger, but because they genuinely cared about her. She was part of Rangeman family. I slid from the supple leather and looked around. "Core meeting in 10. Control room."

I pulled Silvio aside and asked him who was going to Atlantic City. He looked at me and replied, "I am. I leave in 20 minutes. I'm packed and ready to go."

I nodded and patted him on the back. "Sit in on the meeting before you go. Ranger will need an update when you get there, in case I don't get in touch with him before then. He needs to know the gravity of the situation."

Silvio nodded, understanding, and turned to me. We both stopped walking, wanting to put some distance between us and the rest of the group. "Is she ok? Will she be ok?"

I looked at Silvio trying to put on a strong face. But I'm sure he could see the concern in my eyes. I wasn't sure. I wouldn't lie; I wouldn't promise everyone that everything was going to be ok. But I knew we had to remain positive. Despite the fact that none of us knew about it prior to a couple of hours ago, this child was already part of Rangeman. If something happened to it, or to Stephanie, Ranger would be devastated. Heck, we all would.

"I'm not sure man. Let's just hope and pray for the best."

Silvio and I turned and started walking again, heading for the garage elevator. I started to ask if Ranger had called to check in, but thought better of it. I knew that he wouldn't call Haywood. If he called…no, _when_ he called, he'd call me. I was beginning to really worry about why he wasn't calling back. This wasn't like Ranger. But then again, normally, when he was in the wind, he wasn't available at all. Sometimes his government jobs kept him away for weeks, even months. I was used to being in charge while he was gone. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that normally I wasn't dealing with a 23 week pregnant woman in preterm labor! I had no idea what to do and uttered a silent thanks to God that I wasn't the one that found her. I was also thankful that Bobby had been here. Mental note- put a word in for Bobby during his next review. Not that it would be needed. Stephanie would probably talk to Ranger when this was all over and make sure that he was well compensated. Yeah, that's it. Stephanie would get better, and she'd make it through this just fine, and things are going to all work out ok, right? I willed myself to believe this, but the growing anxiety in the pit of my stomach wasn't helping the cause.

The elevator opened on the control room floor, and we stepped out. Everyone was in place, quietly waiting for the meeting to begin. Silvio took his seat, and I stood in front of the room.

I quickly looked across the faces in the room. Ranger was a very private man. I wasn't sure he would want everyone knowing what was going on. But I felt like most of them knew already. They had already seen Bobby carrying her from the penthouse to the elevator. They had watched the monitors as Hector pulled the car around, we got in, and sped from the garage. "Men, as most of you know, Ranger is in Atlantic City working on a case. Normally, we wouldn't have contact with him when he's doing a government or treasury case, but because Stephanie had been sick, and because we are currently in negotiations with a large potential client, he made arrangements ahead of time to be able to be contacted in case of an emergency. Bobby found Stephanie in her apartment this morning. Long story short, she's not doing well. She's 23 weeks pregnant, has lost a lot of blood, and may lose the baby. Bobby tells me that this is very serious. They are currently on their way to Newark NICU by chopper. Thus far, Ranger has not been able to be contacted. Silvio will head out to Atlantic City after this meeting to try to make contact with Ranger and Lester. He plans on trying to get himself into the inner circle at the casino, and arrange for Ranger to be able to leave. He will take Ranger's place. That's all we know right now." I started to dismiss the men, send them back to work, but I stopped abruptly.

"Oh, and…if any of you could pull any favors out from the good 'Man Upstairs', I'm sure Ranger and Stephanie would appreciate it. Dismissed."

My phone rang as everyone was clearing out, and getting back to work. I jerked it open, hoping that it was Ranger. "Hello?"

"Hi Mr. Tank. This is Stephanie's grandmother. We've been trying to get in touch with her this morning, and she hasn't answered her phone. Do you know where she is? Estelle Bartalucci's viewing is this afternoon, and I wanted to see if she'd take me. "

I let out a silent, inward sigh. I wondered how she had my number, but figured Stephanie had given it to her. I had no idea what to tell Steph's grandma, but I was pretty sure that she didn't want her herd of a family barging in right now. She needed some time to adjust and get used to the baby idea. She needed to focus on staying alive. And keeping the baby alive.

"Ms. Mazur, I believe Stephanie is working today. And she's currently….indisposed." My mind was searching for the right words. "She's undercover."  
Ok. That was a lie. Technically, she was working on keeping the baby alive. Keeping herself alive. And I guess, technically, she was 'undercover' at the hospital. I was sure they'd arrived at Newark NICU by now, and she'd been given a blanket or something, right?

"Isn't that a pip! I told Ellen and Frank that I figured as much. Do you know when she'll be finished? I really wanted to go to Stiva's tonight. I will have to tell everyone at the viewing that Stephanie is working a big case and…"

I interrupted, fearing that Grandma Mazur would tell everyone that Stephanie was on a case. I was sure that the Burg gossip mill would explode, and I would be willing to bet my underwear that someone in the Burg worked at the hospital. We did our best to keep Stephanie's medical information private at the hospital, and I even checked her in under a different name. I asked for a privacy alert to be on her record, and no one except me, Bobby, and Ranger are listed as contacts on her emergency forms. Of course I know that all hospitals are required to follow standard federal HIPPA protocol, but that doesn't always keep wagging tongues in place. For Pete's sake, this was the Burg! And I knew that where there was a will, there was a way. Someone could have seen us taking Stephanie in the hospital. The less people knew about the situation right now, the better. Ranger needed to know first, and Stephanie didn't need any distractions right now.

"Ms. Mazur, this case is very….ummm…special. Private. You can't leak a word out about it. How about I send a driver over for you around 5? That way you can make it to the viewing on time, and he'll drive you home when you're ready to go. But you have to promise, not a word about the case, agreed?"

"Will it be a stud muffin? Wearing those tight black pants you guys always wear?"

I thought to myself. I was gonna owe someone big time for this. Correction, Ranger was gonna owe someone big time.

"Yes 'mam. I'll make sure of it."

"Ok then. I'll be ready by 5. Tell Stephanie we're having pot roast tomorrow if she wants to drop by. You and Ranger can come too."

"Well, I think they will probably still be on this case then. But I'll have Stephanie call you as soon as possible."

Grandma Mazur seemed satisfied with my answer. She hung up and I wondered who I was going to get to pick her up tonight. Just then, Binkie was making his way down the hall. Binkie was the newest guy at Rangeman. He took a lot of ribbing for it too. He was often at the receiving end of jokes, but he took it well enough.

"Binkie, I have a job for you tonight." I wrote down the address, and told him to take the town car. "You're picking up a very important client, and you will be her chauffer for the evening. Make sure she's happy. And take her where ever she wants to go. Got it? Don't mess up."

"Got it man." Binkie took the address, smiled, and said "Is she pretty?".

"Well, let's just say you'll have your hands full!" I smiled and turned the corner. It wasn't a lie. He needed to earn his chops, and I had a feeling that he wasn't going to be smiling quite as much when he returned tonight.

Bobby called to let me know that he and Stephanie had made it to Newark. Stephanie was being settled into a room, and being examined and evaluated.

"How's she doing Bobby? Any change?"

Bobby sighed. "She's still bleeding. They are giving her blood. They've hung steroids for the baby, and several medications. And the contractions have stabilized at about 8 minutes apart. I can tell she's in a lot of pain right now, but she's holding up. You know Bombshell…she's tough."

"I know man. I know. Did Ella make it there? You need anything?"

"Yeah, she's here. She brought Steph's things. She's in with her now. Were you able to get in touch with Ranger?"

"Not yet. Silvio has the file and is going to find him and Lester in Atlantic City. Hopefully, Ranger will be back soon. "

Bobby replied, "Yeah, I hope so. The whole ward assumed I was Stephanie's husband. I got pulled into the room during another exam and everything. Ranger is going to seriously kill me when he finds out I've seen Steph in such a, well…._personal_ way. But she's crying, man, and so upset. I didn't know what else to do. She's really in a lot of pain."

I would probably be uncomfortable myself. I silently uttered another "_thanks be to God_" under my breath that it was Bobby in there and not me. "You know, Bobby, Ranger is going to be back soon. We'll find him and get him back here. And he won't be mad. In fact, he'll appreciate what you've done. Hell, we all do. She needs you there, man."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Bobby replied. I've seen a lot of crap in my life. But today was different Tank. Today…", his voice trailed off. "Today I was scared."

"Me too, man. Me too."


	5. Chapter 5

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing her characters for fun and am not making anything from the story. Enjoy.

_(I can't believe the positive encouragement I have been receiving for this story. I'm so glad everyone loves Babe and Ranger as much as I do!)_

The noise from the slot machines was echoing in my ears. I stood, with my back to the wall, searching for Alagaro. The treasury had contacted me yesterday. They wanted me here today. Less than 24 hours notice. Damn their timing! My contract with them was finally being renegotiated, and Lester was going to be taking over for me after this final job. I was glad that he had the skill and desire to do it. I'd trained him myself. And, I'd determined, he was ready. I still wanted….no, needed, to be involved. But not at the level I was now. Problems that required long term attention, and months away, would now be the responsibility of Lester. The shorter missions I would save for myself and Babe. She had an excellent sixth sense, but her real talents were with the clients. She negotiated contracts with them with ease, and made people feel comfortable. She was the image and face of Rangeman that our clients needed to see. I'd hoped that we could split our time between Rangeman clients, and maybe one or two federal cases a month. Just enough to keep our skill level up. I closed my eyes thinking of her. I had cleared her with the Feds, and was hoping she would agree to my plan. Those last two words sank in. _My plan. _I was always making plans. Trying to stay one step ahead at all times. But was this what _she_ really wanted? What were _her_ plans? Would she be happy with what I had in mind? I wouldn't push her like Morelli. That wasn't my style. Morelli had tried to push her into settling down, and staying away from me. She didn't cave, and eventually, figured out that he really had been seeing Terry Gilman on those late night stake outs. Stephanie was smart. Smarter than she gave herself credit for. She was unlike any woman I had ever known. And she had no idea how special she was.

I had been a little hard on her lately, pushing her to go beyond her perceived limits. She didn't know her own strength…both physically and otherwise. She could turn the vilest of the vile to their knees when she went on a takedown, dressed in her undercover, barely there outfits. And she was strong on the mats. I'd sparred with her numerous times, and even though I'd never admit it, she'd left a few bruises on me afterwards. I wish I'd had more time to say goodbye this morning. To make sure she was ok. My mind went back to hours ago, when I was with her in the penthouse. She'd been so sick, and I had to leave. I comforted myself with the knowledge that, hopefully, this would be the last time I had to leave her. Leaving her was harder on me than it was on her. I had to leave someone else to check on her, and take care of her. That was my job! What I wouldn't give to be back there now, instead of Bobby, making sure she was ok. This morning was going to be the day. I had planned on proposing to her this morning. I was going to tell her about Lester, about the renegotiation. I had a ring ready and everything. I went in to wake her. To finally tell her I loved her. Really loved her. Not the "_in my own way"_ love; or the "_there's all kinds of love"_ ways. I thought back to the silly lines I had fed her over the past couple of years. I wasn't trying to mislead her. I was trying to protect her. From others. Maybe even from me. I wasn't at the point where I could be what she needed then. The government owned too much of me back then. But now, things were going to be different. When Morelli cheated on her, and she found out, I had sworn she'd never be hurt again. I swore that she'd be mine. But here I was, in Atlantic City, with her ring in my pocket, waiting on Alagaro. And she was probably curled up in my bed, in my apartment, sleeping.

Lester broke into my thoughts as he walked up to me. We shook hands, and made small talk. We acted as if we hadn't seen each other in a while. We had to keep it real. Keep it believable. I had come straight here once I arrived. I had sent my bags up to the room, but decided I wanted to get a layout of the room before the contact got here.

Lester and I both wore suits, and looked like we belonged here. Our contact, according to the feds, was Nick Alagaro. I'd met him before, in another case, about a year ago. He believed that I was a highroller. He thought my name was Ric Valsquez. So my contact and authenticity with him was already established. The feds had already set up my room and identity with the casino prior to my arrival.

The deal was that we were to meet Alagaro here, put on the "Ritz". We were to show him around town, and get him to spend some of the "dirty" money, so to say. He was to think that he was my guest. The plan was that I would get him to believe that I was interested in "buying" some of his counterfeit money. I'd pay him 10 grand, for say 40 grand in counterfeit bills. He gets the real money, to finance whatever illegal schemes he's into at the moment, staying under the radar by not attracting attention and having to worry about counterfeit bills. I use the bills as a highroller in the various casinos I travel in worldwide, and before the money is found out to be counterfeit, I am off to another one of the casinos in another country.

"Any sign of him yet?" Lester asked, as he scanned the crowd.

"Not yet. He's late." I replied.

As soon as the words were spoken, a waitress came up to us, and offered us a drink. We both took one from the tray she carried, and she glanced from Lester back to me.

"Mr. Alagaro has requested you meet him in the VIP lounge. Please follow me."

Lester and I glanced at each other, and followed the waitress to the lounge. It was dimly lit, and the air hung heavy with smoke. There weren't that many people inside, since it was early. One of the casino's nightly shows would start in a few hours, and the place would be packed with old men with too much money, trying too hard to stand out in the crowd.

We stood at the table, and Alagaro rose to shake our hands. He was a middle aged man. Not really tall, but not short. He had dark hair, and a goatee, and his skin was slightly lighter than mine. I suppose that at first glance, people could wrongly assume we were related. In fact, he reminded me of my uncle Salvador.

Lester and I turned and took a seat across from him as he smiled.

"Gentlemen! It's wonderful to see you again!"

I nodded slightly. I didn't want to hear niceties. I wanted to finish up this case and go back to Trenton. To Stephanie. But I had to be here. I had to be here now.

I glanced at Alagaro. I needed to play the part. I needed to be believable. I adjusted my tie, and began. "I trust your trip was enjoyable. Your room's ok? If it's not, I can take care of it. I visit here frequently, as you know, and I can make arrangements…"

Alagaro interrupted, "Yes. It was fine. Couldn't be better. What do you have on your mind for this evening? What is our first stop in the big Atlantic City. I have never been here before, and I trust there is much for as to do, No?"

Lester and I nodded. I sipped my drink slowly, methodically. "Whatever you wish, we will see. There are several shows in town, and every restaurant you could want. But I have a feeling you aren't here for the girls and glam. I know you Alagaro, and I'm betting you can't wait to hit the blackjack table."

Alagaro laughed a hearty laugh. "I see you haven't forgotten my true nature since I've seen you last. "

No, I hadn't forgotten. Alagaro was scum of the earth. He lived and breathed for money. He would hurt and kill anyone that got in his path for it, and I knew that all too well. The treasury needed to see him spending money, passing the fake bills, and have it on camera to hold up in court. Alagaro had many connections to the mob, and could afford the best attorneys money could buy. This case had to be air tight, and I was going to make sure that it was.

Lester laughed, and said "Well, then, what are we waiting here for? Why don't we all go up to our rooms? We can freshen up a bit and then meet back down here in an hour at the tables. I'll have a private one set up for us."

"No," Alagaro replied. "There's not need to wait. I've got a wad of cash in my pocket, and it's itching to make its way to the tables. And I'm feeling lucky! Besides, the rest of my men will be meeting me here shortly. Maybe we could get a game together. A little poker game for the boys! That is, if you're not scared to make a wager, Ric."

He was playing me and I knew it. Alagaro wanted to know that I was serious. That I wanted the money badly. I needed to come across as desperate, if not foolish, to get my hands on the money. But a private poker game wouldn't necessarily afford the cameras visible access and provide the proof that we needed. I had to find a way to get him out in the public areas, or in one of the gaming suites, and get him to pass some of the bills. And I had to get him to trust me enough to let me make the purchase.

"Scared?" I paused. "Who, me? Alagaro you know me better than that." I turned towards Lester, calling him the name Alagaro had been lead to believe belonged to him.

"Jason, go and have a private table set up for us and Alagaro's men. We'll also need a private attendant for the evening, in case anyone needs anything." Lester stood, and walked out of the VIP area. I stood and nodded towards the door. "Alagaro, I hope your luck is with you tonight. Because I'm feeling pretty lucky myself. I hope you're ready to lose big, because lady luck is on my side. I followed him from the lounge towards the private area, and willed myself to believe that luck would be on my side.

I whispered a silent prayer that this would all be over soon. This wasn't a typically difficult case by any means, and I had played the high roller role before. Difficult was being tortured in a jungle for days on end. Going weeks with no food and little water as me and my men had done many times before when we were in special ops. But this case was difficult in another way. Part of me desperately wanted to be somewhere else. I needed to call and check on Stephanie. I needed to go up to the room and make sure that Bobby hadn't left a message for me. Something just didn't feel right, and my nerves were on high alert. Normally I would be able to sense when something was off with a contact or target. But things seemed to be normal with Alagaro. I felt like something was wrong with Stephanie. Like she needed me. Like part of my soul wasn't in my body.

I must have slowed my pace, because Alagaro turned to me and stared. "Backing out so soon? Feeling like lady luck has left?"

I shook my head, and faked a smile. "Nope. Not hardly. The stars are shining for me tonight." And I willed myself to believe it, regardless of what my heart was telling me.


	6. Chapter 6

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing her characters for fun and am not making anything from the story. Enjoy.

_(I wasn't sure anyone would follow my story! Yay! I've had almost 100 reviews so far. Thanks so much everyone. I'm still trying to decide which direction I want to take part of the story in, but I've been on a creative roll lately. I'm gonna try to spoil you with another update! That's right, three in one day!)_

We played cards long into the night. Normally I'm a good card player. I had long ago perfected the poker face. Hell, I use it in everyday life enough to hide my feelings and thoughts from those that hunt me, and that I hunt. I have even used it with Stephanie more than I probably should. But she has a way of making me drop my guard. I have to watch myself carefully when I'm around her. I always try to remind my men to be aware of their surroundings. I've even told her that. But sometimes, I catch myself. I let my guard down, and let myself imagine a future with her. I see her working at Rangeman, or on a take down with me. I let my thoughts take me to another place and time where we don't have to worry about bad guys and obligations bound by government contracts. She doesn't know what she does to me. She has a way of turning on feelings in me that I never could exist. I've never felt this way about any other woman. Not even Julie's mom.

Last night I lost big to Alagaro. I had to make it believable, and make him believe that I had gambling problems. That I really needed the money that he wants to sell. I can spot a counterfeit a mile away, and everything he used last night was real. Not one bill was fake. We didn't leave the table until around 6am. I started to head to my room, desperately needing a shower and a nap, but Alagaro insisted that Lester and I stay in the section of rooms he had reserved. This wasn't the plan, and rarely did I deviate from a plan. He insisted, and I was afraid that if we refused it would send up a red flag to him. I tried explaining that I was used to a particular suite that I normally stayed in when visiting this casino, but it seemed that Alagaro had already decided he needed to keep a careful and watchful eye on Lester and I. He had already made arrangements with the casino owner, and he wasn't planning on letting us out of his sights for a minute. He seemed to be very knowledgeable about the casino, and it sounded as if he was on speaking terms with the owner. For someone who had supposedly never visited this particular casino before he was certainly afforded extra leniency. Most casino owners don't allow such liberties to new clients. You have to have an established rapport with them. They have to know you have money, and that you're willing to bet it, and lose it. I'd be willing to bet that the owner was somehow tied to Alagaro in regards to the counterfeiting. It'd be easy to use a casino as a laundromat to filter counterfeits out to customers. The feds hadn't clued me in to that part, but then again, maybe they didn't know.

Lester and I finally agreed to stay in the wing of the casino that Alagaro had reserved. Alagaro said he'd take care of having our luggage moved, and I felt sure that it would be thoroughly searched by his goons before it was handed over to hotel staff to be delivered to us. I was glad that I hadn't brought a cell phone, and that I hadn't left Stephanie's ring in the luggage. My tracking device was on me, but it was small enough that Alagaro would only find it by strip search. The only thing our luggage contained was clothes and essentials, so I felt sure that Alagaro wouldn't be on to me or Lester.

I entered the suite with the security card that Alagaro had provided. The room was spacious and had a mirrored bathroom. I powered on the television, and flipped through the channels. I finally settled on a basketball game on ESPN, and sat down on the bed. I decided that calling Tank to check in was too risky. I had suspicions that the room was probably bugged and the phone as well. Why else would he have wanted us to change rooms? There were probably cameras in here as well. I had arrived at the casino early yesterday in an effort to get a mental image of the floor plans. Alagaro was nowhere to be found, so I imagine he was already here when I arrived. He was probably installing recording devices in the rooms that he gave us keys for. Lester was on to the same idea when I saw him check in his room across the hall. I could tell by looking at him. That's the thing about working with someone so long. You can almost read their minds at times. I knew Lester well enough to know that he wouldn't be letting any information slip by phone or in the room.

There was a knock at the door, and I rose from the bed. I opened the door to find a hotel attendant dressed in black pants and a white jacket. He carried my luggage in the door and sat it in the middle of the room. He stood, looked me in the eye, and spoke.

"Mr. Valsquez, I hope this room is to your liking. Did you find everything you needed?"

I went to pull out a tip for the man from my pocket, and I paused. Something seemed oddly familiar about him. He had a moustache, and his hair didn't quite fit his face. He was dressed in the standard hotel uniform, but it didn't quite suit him. There was something about his voice. And his eyes. I knew this man. As I was trying to figure out why this man was so familiar to me, I heard him speak once more.

"Is there a problem Mr. Valsquez? Can I get you something? Maybe more towels? Or an extra pillow?"

Silvio. It was Silvio dressed up in a hotel uniform. He had a fake moustache on, and a bad excuse for a wig underneath his hotel hat. But it was him. What was he doing here? My mind instantly started going wild, wondering what he was here for. What was he trying to tell me?

"Ummmm, yes please." I managed to say. I would like another pillow please. And an extra blanket."

"No problem sir. I'll be back shortly." And he turned and left the room.

Silvio wasn't new to take downs either. And by my guesses he had already figured out that we were being watched. I wasn't sure how I was going to get to talk to him without Alagaro finding out. But Silvio being here only meant one thing. Something was wrong. And I'd be willing to bet money that it's about Steph. Something just hasn't felt right since I left her yesterday. It had to be serious for Silvio to be here. If she had gotten sicker, Bobby would have just taken her to the doctor. Why was he here?

Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I looked out the peep hole, and then opened it, and Silvio stood there in his uniform, holding a pillow and a blanket.

"Sir, I trust that you will find this suitable. Please call the desk if you should need anything else at all."

I handed Silvio the bills that I had removed from my pocket earlier for a tip. He took them, and shook my hand, squeezing it a little harder than necessary.

"Thank you sir. Enjoy your stay."

As he left the room I glanced down to my hand. In it, was a small piece of paper with one word on it.

Babe.


	7. Chapter 7

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. All characters are hers, and unfortunately, not mine. Dang it!

_Previously: _

_Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I looked out the peep hole, and then opened it, and Silvio stood there in his uniform, holding a pillow and a blanket._

_"Sir, I trust that you will find this suitable. Please call the desk if you should need anything else at all."_

_I handed Silvio the bills that I had removed from my pocket earlier for a tip. He took them, and shook my hand, squeezing it a little harder than necessary._

_"Thank you sir. Enjoy your stay."_

_As he left the room I glanced down to my hand. In it, was a small piece of paper with one word on it._

_Babe._

My mind was racing a million miles a minute. Even after being up all night, I no longer had the brain fog from lack of sleep in my head. This one word I held in my hand sent adrenaline coursing through my veins. More adrenaline than I've ever encountered before. I've been in third world countries with grenades exploding around me. I've seen death, and been too close to it myself more times than I care to remember. But all of that pales in comparison to the fear I am feeling now. _Dios_, I can't lose her. Not now. Not after we've waited so long to be together. All those stupid years that I spent sending her back to Morelli, because I thought he was what was good for her, and now that I was ready, dare I hope that she was ready….could it all fall apart now?

No, I wouldn't let it. I'll be damned if I'm gonna let it slip out of my hands that easily. I need a plan. Somehow I have to get out of here without blowing my cover. And I need to talk to Silvio. And I need to get home to Babe.

I showered quickly, getting dressed for the day. I was sure that Alagaro would be out for hours after being up all night. Especially considering the amount of liquor he'd consumed last night. But I knew him and his type well enough to know that he had someone watching me. And probably watching Lester too. He wouldn't hand over the cash until he felt certain that we were what we said we were.

I stepped across the hall and knocked on Lester's door. After several moments, he opened the door and looked like he'd been asleep.

"Why are you up man? Get some sleep!"

He went to shut the door, but I stepped into his room. He fell back onto the bed and pulled the covers over him. "Why are you here? You're supposed to be sleeping."

I was sure that Lester knew that we were being watched. In fact, I'd seen him glance up to the mirrored lights when he entered the room. No doubt, he knew that was the perfect place to hide a camera. Hell, that's where _we _often hid cameras when we needed to monitor something covertly. So playing the part, I tried my best to think of a reason to get us out of the rooms.

"Jason, man, you've gone soft. I figured you'd be ready to shower and head out for breakfast. Maybe even take in one of those strip clubs like we did last time. You remember last time, right? I'm sure you remember that bombshell you hooked up with last time? Wasn't her stage name Babe?

I hoped that Lester took my cue. I prayed that he would realize what I was trying to say. I hated using her name…my name for her…in that context. But it was all I could think of. A moment passed and he got up getting his clothes ready and finally looking towards me.

"Why didn't you say so man? I'm all up for that. Give me just a minute to shower, and we'll head out. I could use some loving right now after losing big last night in that game. I think a strip club might be just what the doctor ordered!"

I sat on the bed waiting on Lester. I hoped that the casual exchange between us was enough to ward off Alagaro. I was sure we'd be followed, and I was still trying to come up with a plan. Somehow I had to figure out how to get close to Silvio . I could only hope that he'd follow us as well. I needed to know what was going on.

Lester emerged from the shower after a few minutes. He grabbed his room key and his wallet, stuffing both into his back pocket. In true Lester fashion, he turned to me, grinned big, and said "Let's go find some ladies!"

We headed out to the lobby and I spotted Silvio in front of the hotel. This time he was dressed as a driver, and was standing beside a cab in front of the casino. His wig was gone, as was the moustache. He wore a cab company uniform and sunglasses. There were several other cabs available to hotel guests, but thankfully there were no other people walking up to him.

"Where to gentlemen?"

"The Elite Club", Lester responded. I was glad he picked that club. It was the fartherest one away on the strip. It would give us the most time in the car with Silvio. We both got in back of the cab, and Silvio slid into the driver's seat.

As we pulled away from the curb, I could see Alagaro's men get in a cab behind us. They were three car lengths behind us, but following none the less.

"Ok, Silvio. What's going on? " I asked nervously, praying for Babe's safety.

"Steph passed out after you left. Bobby found her in the apartment bleeding."

My mind was trying to wrap around this. Had someone gotten in to the building? No, there was no way. How was she hurt? Why was she bleeding? I must have looked stunned, because Lester spoke first and quickly turned my thoughts back to reality.

"Silvio, what happened? Why was she bleeding? Is she ok?"

Silvio merged into traffic, checking his rear view mirrors. "She's been airlifted to Newark. She's 23 weeks pregnant and may lose the baby. She has something called placental abruption. Basically the placenta is tearing away from the uterine wall. The baby is alive, and so is she. She's lost a lot of blood. And it's pretty touch and go for the baby. They say 23 weeks is early. Boss, there's only a 15% chance of the baby surviving. Bobby had a helicopter dispatched to take her. The weather was horrible. They took her to Newark because it has a NICU. Bobby is staying with her, and Tank checked her in under an assumed name. We thought you needed to know. She's asking for you. Her blood pressure is really high too. She's contracting, and they don't know how long they can hold labor off. Bobby said the baby could be born as anytime."

I can only describe my reaction as shock. I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't know what questions to ask. I had never been this unprepared for something in my life. We were going to have a baby. Steph and I had made a baby. I didn't understand since she was on the pill. She had been on it for four months. I was sure of that because I went with her to the doctor. But wait! Silvio said she was 23 weeks pregnant. She was already pregnant when she started them.

I finally found my voice, although it was almost a whisper. "She had to have been pregnant when…" I drifted off. My mind was racing.

Silvio started talking again. "The doctors say she was pregnant when she started the pill. They think that's why she didn't know. I don't know about all that female stuff. But I hear that she was in shock when they told her. Something about how she had been irregular…whatever that means. Tank tried to explain it to me. He said she's been so sick, and been exercising so much, that they assumed that is why she didn't gain any weight. The doctor estimated that the baby weighs about a pound and a half."

I was trying desperately to wrap my mind around this. A pound and a half. That's only 24 ounces. I can't imagine a baby that small. She hasn't gained any weight. In fact, she's lost weight. My thoughts immediately went to our daily workouts. We had ran miles daily, and I pushed her. I felt a weight come crashing down on me as I realized that I had probably pushed her too hard. We had just had a sparring match the day before I left. I took her down and pinned her to the mats. And then there were all of the distractions we had done. Hell, she'd even fallen from a balcony trying to capture a FTA. She was only bruised at the time. What if all of that was what caused this? Was this my fault? I should have known…I should have realized. Dios! What if she loses the baby? What if I lose _her?_

Lester must have seen the turmoil raging in my eyes. He spoke softly, patting me on the back. "Come on man. You can't blame yourself. Steph didn't even know, and it's her body we're talking about. We don't know what caused it. But you can't dwell on that now. We've got to find a way to get you out of her and back to her.

Silvio said he was here to help in whatever way he could. On the way to the club he and Lester came up with a plan to get Silvio introduced to Alagaro. My mind was still in shock. I sat there in disbelief, not hearing the plan that Lester and Silvio came up with.

I couldn't believe I was going to be a father…again. I had done what I thought was best at the time for Julie, but if I could go back, I would certainly have done things different. I never thought I'd have a chance to do it again. A chance to make right all the wrongs I'd done the first time. I wanted a chance to see the miracle of life from the beginning. And I wanted it all with Stephanie. I wanted to be there for her and for our child. Then my mind seized on the thought that it was our child. I had to stop planning for what I wanted. I needed to take her wants and needs into account as well. What did she want? I interrupted Lester and Silvio….

"What about Stephanie. How is she? Did she say anything about…" I stopped for a minute. "About the baby?"

Silvio nodded. "Like I said, she's ok for now. Bobby said he was staying with her. I hear he was a little uncomfortable being in there with her for the exam. But Steph didn't want to be left alone. Tank said the doctors asked her if she wanted the child. And she said she did. She's holding her own for now."

My heart ached. She wanted this child with me. I had been such a fool to let her go back all those times. I could only imagine how nervous Bobby probably was. I didn't let my mind linger on the fact that he'd probably saw Stephanie naked. He was probably fearful that I'd have him in the gym pinned with my foot on his neck! But on the contrary, I was thankful that he'd been there for Steph. I was thankful for his friendship, and ashamed that it wasn't me that was there now with her.

Lester broke into my thoughts as he told me of their plan. We were going to the Elite Club and we were going to happen to "meet up" with an old friend. Silvio would go by the name of Jimmy Santos. We'd leave the club later and then take him back to the hotel. We would then introduce him to Alagaro, explain that he's an old friend that is also looking to "purchase" some bills, and see if he'd invite him into the game later tonight. I would then suddenly come up with severe abdominal pain and an ambulance would be called. Lester had a friend at the local hospital that he dated a time or two. And she worked in the emergency room. He would call her while we were in the Elite Club, and when I was admitted, she would take care of making it look like I was in surgery for appendicitis. Silvio was going to call Tank and have a chopper at the hospital, and I'd fly out to be with Stephanie. Lester and Silvio would then try to make the money swap with Alagaro, and he'd assume I was in the hospital recovering. The only problem would be if he decided to visit me there, to see for himself. But somehow I didn't think he was that caring or concerned. It sounded like it might just work. If we could get everything and everyone involved in position.

We finalized the plans, and Lester and I got out at the Elite Club. Silvio drove off, to ditch the cab and come back to the club a little later on. As we walked in, I noticed Alagaro's goons pulling into the upper parking lot.

Lester and I went in to the dimly lit club and let our eyes adjust to the darkness. We took a table in the back, as far away from the stage as possible. We knew we'd have to find an opportune time to make the necessary phone calls. I wasn't sure how Lester was going to do it. I just knew that I had to get home. A waitress came by, and Lester ordered us two beers. She was back shortly with our order, and I nodded towards her. Lester made eye contact with one of the ladies on stage, and before I knew it, one of the strippers came down to do a lap dance for Lester. He stood up and followed her to one of the back rooms. I glanced towards the guys following us, and they were watching Lester as well. I figured he'd probably make the call to his contact at the ER while he was back there. I didn't want to think about what else he might do while he was in the "private" room.

After about fifteen minutes, Lester emerged from the room along with the stripper. He kissed her hand and helped her back to the stage. He sauntered over to the table, and sat down and took a drag from his beer.

"Any luck?" I asked?

"Yeah. My friend's name is Lori. She is working tonight, so it worked out perfectly. She will be waiting on you when you get there. A doctor owed her a favor, so he's in on it too. And the stripper was all too ready to let me use her phone, once I paid her to stay back there with me. She said it's the easiest $100 she's ever made."

"Ok. Well, I guess we're done here then. Was Silvio gonna meet up with us here?"

Lester nodded and we decided to wait it out on him. Lester turned to watch the stage, but I could only stare at the beer in front of me. This type of place wasn't somewhere that I would frequent…anymore. Sure I had traveled the world, and seen more than my share of the sexual, erotic, and downright perverse things of this world. But once I met Steph all that changed. I no longer needed any of that. I only needed her.

Silvio walked in, and we all shook hands and did the complicated hand thing…as Babe calls it. We played the part as if we hadn't seen each other in forever. After another round of beers, we left cash on the table and got up to leave. We'd have enough time to go back to the hotel, take a nap, shower and change before being due in the private room for this evening's game. We'd then introduce Alagaro to Silvio. And pray he took the bait.

We arrived back at the hotel around 1pm, with Alagaro's men still following us. We went up to our rooms, and Silvio went into Lester's suite. I went to mine alone. I needed to think and I knew if Silvio was there with me I'd struggle not to ask him more questions. I was sure that he had told me all he knew. But I kept replaying the words Silvio said in my mind. _"Stephanie's pregnant…..23 weeks…very early…..a pound and a half…bleeding….Bobby found her…airlifted….15% chance of surviving."_

It was all too much. I laid across the bed thinking of her and our unborn child. I was trying to will myself to doze into sleep so that my thoughts would be silent. But sleep wouldn't come. There was no way I could sleep again until I knew that Stephanie and our child were ok. And I couldn't escape the heavy feeling that this was somehow my fault.


	8. Chapter 8

Notes & Disclaimers: Anything you recognize as familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. All characters are hers, and unfortunately, not mine. Dang it!

Previously:

_It was all too much. I laid across the bed thinking of her and our unborn child. I was trying to will myself to doze into sleep so that my thoughts would be silent. But sleep wouldn't come. There was no way I could sleep again until I knew that Stephanie and our child were ok. And I couldn't escape the heavy feeling that this was somehow my fault._

Ranger's POV:

I laid across the bed for what seemed like hours. Finally there was a knock at the door. Alagaro had sent one of his men over to set up a time for us to get our next game together. Ordinarily I would have been ready for this, but the knock at the door startled me. I guess I wasn't very aware of my surroundings. It seems like I am always telling Babe that she needs to be aware, and here I was jumping like a school girl from a knock at the door.

I answered the door, and silently hoped that my disheveled appearance would add credibility to my "illness" that was to come later in the evening. Alagaro's thug set up a time of 7pm for us to meet in the private gaming room. I went to shower and get ready, and walked across the hall. Silvia and Lester were waiting for me and we all walked down to the private room.

Alagaro immediately stood, and seemed antsy. I made introductions and explained that we had met up with our acquaintance at one of the local strip clubs earlier in the day. I suggested coyly that my "friend" might be interested in some of the goods Alagaro had for sale. Alagaro understood two languages: English and the language of dollar signs. Once I explained why Silvio was here, he took the bait and was all too eager to get the game started.

I have to admit, I was surprised by how easily he accepted the story. But dollar signs speak loud to Alagaro's type. I just silently hoped that he would buy my sudden illness later on in the evening.

We continued to play throughout the evening. And around 9pm, I stood after a losing hand. Alagaro was laughing and telling his goons that we weren't going to have any money left to purchase the "goods". I doubled myself over, in supposed pain, and fell into the table for extra effect. Lester bent down and helped me up, and I screamed in pain. Silvio bent down and pressed on my side.

"What's wrong man. What's going on?"

"My side. It's killing me! Someone call an ambulance, I think I'm dying!"

Alagaro sent one of his men to alert the casino to call 911. Within minutes, I was riding in the back of an ambulance on my way to the emergency room.

Once we reached the emergency room, I asked if there was a nurse named Lori. They looked questioningly at me, but I explained that she was a friend of mine and I needed her to call my next of kin. One of the nurses went to get her, while a doctor was pressing on my abdomen. I knew I had to play along until I could get in contact with Lester's friend, so I threw in a grunt and a calculated "ooowwww!" here and there.

Lori took her time getting to me, and by the time she had arrived, I had an IV in my arm with fluids running in. She came in and shut the door behind her.

"Hi, I'm Lori. You must be Lester's friend." She said the last part as a statement rather than a question.

"Yes, and I don't mean to be rude, but I really have to get out of here. Can you make it happen?"

She grabbed my chart from the foot of the stretcher I was sitting on. "Well, I can't risk my job or do anything illegal. But from talking to Lester, I understand that you need certain people to think that you are here and that you are very ill. What I can do is take you down for this cat scan that the doctor has ordered. Cat scans usually take a loooong time, if you know what I mean. And if you happen to get lost on the way down there, well….let's just say we are really backed up tonight here in the ER. And if you turn up missing, it may be a few hours or more before I could alert security to search for you. And where you go after that really isn't up to me, now is it Mr. Manoso? "

I looked up at her and she winked. Then she continued. "I hear that there is a chopper on its way to get you to take you home. It's impossible to get up to the landing pad without the code to get through that security door. You might want to take this with you."

I looked down and she handed me a piece of paper with a four digit code on it. I tucked it into my pocket, and shook her hand.

"You have no idea how much you have helped. If you ever need anything at all, please give Rangeman or Lester a call. He knows how to get in touch with me, and whatever you need, I'll make it happen."

Lori smiled and motioned to the waiting wheel chair she had brought in with her. I sat in it, and then she rolled me to a hallway near a sign that said "flight bay".

"Ok Mr. Valsquez, I seem to have forgotten your chart. I'll be right back. You sit tight and I'll go get it and take you to cat scan."

And with that, she was gone. I looked around to make sure Alagaro hadn't sent someone to follow me, and rolled the wheelchair forward. I stepped from it, and then entered the code on the pin pad located near the door. When I exited the emergency door to the flight deck of the hospital, the chopper was already there and waiting. I ran to get inside and was surprised to find Tank inside.

"Hey, man! Good to see you!" Tank boomed as the chopper lifted from the ground.

"What are you doing here Tank? Did something happen with Stephanie?"

"No but I couldn't get a pilot on such short notice. So I came myself."

I was so thankful for Tank as a friend. And I was even more thankful that he was a friend with a pilot's license. There were several of us at Rangeman that knew how to pilot a plane and a chopper. It was necessary at times.

I knew Tank must have seen the worry in my face and the deep feeling of gratitude when he looked over at me and half heartedly hit me in the side.

"Come on man. Don't go all mushy on me. You would have done the same thing for me if I was in your shoes. Steph's gonna be fine. Trust me. When I left her she was doing ok. She's scared as hell, but she's strong Ranger. I'm just worried about the baby. Were you guys planning on having kids already? Were you guys…..well, _trying?_"

I sat there and thought about the question. We certainly had not discussed it. Steph was on the pill, and I had always thought that would be protection enough. We were seeing each other exclusively, and after confirming that we were both STD free at our last physical, we decided there was no need for other protection. After we started dating seriously, she was the one who had suggested we both be tested. I agreed, even though I hadn't been with anyone since our time together in her apartment two years ago. And I had never been with anyone without a condom after Rachel. I knew first hand that it only took one time, and after Julie was conceived I vowed to be more responsible in that area. That is until I met Steph. She could make me lose control without even trying. Steph had found out that Morelli had cheated on her while she was living with him, and felt like she needed to get tested. I thought back on the question Tank had just asked and figured from his intense glare that he was expecting an answer.

"No. We weren't planning it. In fact, I thought we took steps to prevent it! But I guess that's in the past now huh?"

Tank nodded before continuing. "Listen man. I know you may not be real happy about this situation with Steph. But please don't go in and upset her. I know you, and I know your temper. But Steph, well, she's real vulnerable right now. Bobby says that her blood pressure is very high. And she could lose the baby. Or worse… " His words trailed off.

"Tank, I thought you said she was stable when you left. Is there something that you aren't telling me? Is Steph ok?"

"Yeah, man. She's ok. But she's lost a lot of blood. And Bobby says that if her placenta completely abrupt or tears away or whatever the heck it is that it does, well….there might not be time to save the baby. And that could mean danger for her life as well."

I sat there in shock, feeling numb all over. I had fought in wars and battles all over the world. I had been beaten and tortured. But never had I been as scared as I was at this very moment. A wave of nausea hit me as I thought about losing Stephanie. My head started spinning and I saw dots flash in front of my eyes. My breathing must have increased, because before I knew what was happening, Tank was pushing my head down as far as it would go in the small chopper.

Tank replied, "Come on man. You can not pass out up here in the chopper. I can't pilot a chopper and take care of you. Put your head down and press against my hand. You know the drill."

I bent over as far as I could in the tiny area. I willed my breathing to slow down, and the nausea started to pass. What the hell happened? I was a Ranger for Christ sake! Things like this normally did not happen to me.

After a few minutes, Tank removed his large hand from my neck. "Talk to me Ranger…what happened?"

"I started thinking about Steph and the baby. And I thought about losing them. I can't lose them Tank. Not now that I've found her and finally realized that I may actually want this child. Actually, I think I do want this child very much. It's a part of her, and _Dios!_ I love her Tank. I really do. Nothing else in this crazy world matters if she's not a part of my life."

Tank laughed a loud snort. "Jeez man! You've got it bad. But I'm just glad that you finally got your head out of your ass long enough to realize it. It's about time you realized what's been right in front of you all along. But let me tell you something, she's worried to death that you aren't going to want her or the kid. So you better go in there first thing and be honest with her. Or I'll hurt you myself!"

I smiled at Tank, and realized he was telling the truth. I let my thoughts drift to a mental image of Babe. God I loved her! Stephanie and I had spent too long ignoring what we both already knew. We had been dating for about 6 months now. Her family was finally letting her decide what she wanted from life with less and less interference since she had been staying at Haywood with me. And my missions away were much less frequent and my contracts were up with the government. If there ever was a time that I was going to be ready for a family, and a relationship, I guessed now was it. I think I've been ready all along. I was just too stubborn to admit it.

Tank interrupted my thoughts laughing again.

"What's so funny Tank? I'm sitting here, worried to death about my child and future wife, and you're sitting there laughing like a jackass!"

Tank continued to laugh as he lowered the chopper. I didn't realize that we were already in Newark, and that I had been deep in thought during most of the ride.

"Sorry Ranger," he said between chuckles. "It's just that I am going to love telling Stephanie and the guys that you almost blacked out sitting in a chopper, and had to put your head between your knees. I don't think I've ever seen you pass out! Maybe we need to get Bobby to be in the delivery room instead of you. You'll probably be passed out cold!"

I was glad that Tank was enjoying himself at my expense. But he was right. I had never passed out before. But then again, I'd never been in love before either. Not until Steph came into my life. But now, there was Steph. And this child- our child. All of a sudden, life seemed much clearer and brighter than it had in quite a while.


	9. Chapter 9

I am stunned at the kind words I've received from this story. I'm sorry for the long delay in updating and I promise to try to do better, if one of you could just find Ranger and maybe send him to my house! Haha! But seriously, thanks for your positive words.

Once again, characters are not mine. Unfortunately! Now on with the story.

_Previously:_

_I've ever seen you pass out! Maybe we need to get Bobby to be in the delivery room instead of you. You'll probably be passed out cold!"_

_I was glad that Tank was enjoying himself at my expense. But he was right. I had never passed out before. But then again, I'd never been in love before either. Not until Steph came into my life. But now, there was Steph. And this child- our child. All of a sudden, life seemed much clearer and brighter than it had in quite a while._

The chopper landed and I was out the door before the blades stopped moving. Tank had made arrangements for someone to meet us and then escort me to Stephanie. My legs felt weak underneath me from all the adrenalin flowing through me. I spotted a man in blue medical scrubs with a long white lab coat over them. He was standing over to the side from where we had landed. I quickly ran over to him, introducing myself as Carlos Manoso. He introduced himself as William O'Riley. He shook my hand, and by this time, Tank had caught up with us. We stepped in line behind him, and followed him to an elevator. We all stepped inside, and he turned to begin speaking to me.

"Mr. Manoso, I have the doctor assigned to your wife's care since she arrived. I'm not sure how much you have been told, so far, but the cliff note version is that she is 23 weeks pregnant. She's lost a lot of blood, and the placenta is partially torn away from the wall of the uterus. She was having contractions every 8 minutes when she arrived, but we have stabilized those somewhat. She is still having contractions, but they are irregular and don't have a definite pattern. That's the good news. If the contractions become more regular, we may not be able to hold off labor, in which case the baby would be born very early. Too early. I won't lie to you. It's very difficult for a child to survive at that gestational age. And even if it does, there are risks of deformity, infection, under-developed lungs, disabilities…"

I interrupted him. "Mr. O'Riley, I appreciate your honesty and frankness. But Stephanie is my world. We have only recently come to realize how much we mean to each other and I do not plan on losing her now. Please do everything possible to ensure both she and the baby survive. Please take care of her as if she were your wife. I won't accept anything less. "

O'Riley nodded, and the elevator opened. As we exited the doors, I didn't have to look far for her room. Cal and Hal were standing outside the room, one on each side of the door.

"Mr. Manoso," O'Riley began, "I understand you are very protective of your wife, but don't you think that two armed guards outside her door are a little…..well, overkill?"

"Mr. O'Riley, in my line of work, as well as Stephanie's, we have made many enemies in the name of upholding the law. There are many people who would like to harm us. There will continue to be guards outside of her room, as well as the nursery or NICU when the baby is born. I trust that there will not be a problem with this, correct?"

"No of course not."

I knew before speaking that there would not be a problem. Rangeman was a hefty contributor to many organizations and businesses, both public and private, in the area. I always felt it was important to give back to the community that you grew up in. And to those where you lived. But, to be honest, it also didn't hurt in times like these. I was mentally and silently thanking Bobby, in my mind, for his request and input on the donation to medical facilities last year. He had been the one to suggest we make a donation to assist Newark with their Emergency Room expansion.

I nodded at Cal and Hal as we stepped inside the room. Stephanie was asleep and very pale. Bobby was slumped into a chair in the corner, looking very tired and haggard. When we walked in, he awoke, and was immediately standing, while he ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Hey Boss. She's resting comfortably now. Good to see you here."

"Thanks Bobby. I appreciate all you've done…more than you know. Thanks for staying with her."

I made my way over to the side of the bed, pulling up a chair, while the doctor talked. "I'll leave you here to catch up. Someone will be in shortly to check her vitals, and check on the blood that is hanging. She still has one more bag to infuse. After that, we'll be doing another ultrasound."

The doctor left the room, and Tank and Bobby filed out as well. I stroked her face lightly with my fingertips, and touched her hair. She looked up at me through sleepy eyes, and I had never been so glad to see her in my life.

"Ranger, you made it. I was so worried that you wouldn't come!" Her voice sounded tired and groggy from sleep.

"Babe! Why would I not come? I would move Heaven and Earth to get to you!"

"But Ranger, you were on a mission…what happened? I wasn't sure you'd be able to come back so soon." Her voice was starting to sound worried.

"Ssssh. It's ok. Don't worry about a thing. You just worry about keeping you and our baby healthy. Silvio met us there and he is taking my place. It's all worked out. How are you feeling?"

She bit down nervously on her bottom lip, as if not sure of what to say. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from me slightly.

"Babe I see the wheels turning in your head. What's wrong? Are you in pain? Please talk to me."

She turned back to face me. "No, Ranger, no real pain right now. Uncomfortable cramping, yes. But they tell me that is to be expected. They can't give me anything like an epidural yet. The contractions aren't as close together now. For a while they were pretty bad." She stopped, as if unsure of what to say. I took her hand in mine, and kissed her fingertips.

"Babe, can you believe it? Me and you as parents? Unexpected, huh?"

I looked up to her face and the tears were coming in earnest now. What had I said? Did I upset her? "What's wrong Babe? Please talk to me."

"Ranger, it's just that I didn't mean for this to happen. I don't want you to think I somehow got pregnant on purpose. I swear I didn't know I was pregnant. If I had, I would never have went after FTA's or put myself in those situations. I don't want you to think I endangered our child's life on purpose…I would never…."

I put my fingers up to her lips, silencing her rambling thoughts. I had just spent the past day trying to get home to her, and I hadn't realized that she probably had spent the last day worrying. She had probably assumed the worst, and fretted over my reaction to the unexpected news.

"Sssssh….it's ok Babe." I stood, and scooted her over in the bed, lying with her and gathering her into my arms. "You did nothing wrong. I know you didn't know you were pregnant, and I know you well enough to know that you would never endanger our child. While I do wish you would have seen a doctor earlier, we can't change things. Steph, sometimes things happen for a reason. And while this was totally unexpected, some of the best blessings in life are those that you could have never planned for. Look at our relationship…I never expected to ever open my heart up to anyone due to my line of work. But then a certain curly haired brunette came along, with beautiful piercing blue eyes. And right then and there I knew that my life as I knew it would never be the same. This child will be loved. Because he or she will be physical proof of our love for each other. Never doubt that. And never doubt my love for you. "

"But Ranger, what if something happens? I've only known I was pregnant for a day or so, and I already can't imagine losing this child. What if he doesn't make it?" She tucked her head into my shoulder, and her sobs wracked her body.

"Babe, we just have to trust that everything will be ok. I will make sure that the baby has access to the best neonatal facilities that we can provide. I just need you to stay calm and focus on keeping him or her in there as long as possible."

I looked down to her still flat abdomen. "It's hard to believe there is a baby in there, huh Steph?"

She nodded as I stroked her stomach. The wires and straps from a machine were cinched snug across her petite waist.

"It's a monitor to record the baby's heart beat. They say it's strong so far."

"Of course it is Babe. This child is part of you. You are one of the strongest people I know!"

"Ranger, are you sure you are ok with this. I don't want you to feel somehow obligated to me, or this child. I know this has to be a shock to you, as it was to me. I don't want to lose you, but I also know that we hadn't discussed kids. So if you want an out, I'm giving it to you now. Now is your chance. They asked me if I wanted to continue the pregnancy and I said yes. I can't abort our child. But I can't ask you to be here if you don't want to be."

I looked deep into Steph's eyes and at that moment, realized how difficult it must have been for her to say that. She was always so damned independent! Did she actually think I would want her to abort our child?

"Babe, do you trust me?"

She looked down at her blanket, averting her eyes from mine. Her voice came in a whisper. "Yes, Carlos, I trust you."

"Well then you need to trust me and believe me when I say that you aren't getting rid of me that easy! I love you Stephanie Michelle Plum, and I intend on staying in the picture! I don't want an out. I don't want to leave. And even if you wanted me to, I'm not so sure that I could. And I most certainly did not want you to abort our child. You are stuck with me and there's nothing that you can say about it!"

I knew I was pushing her. Steph normally didn't like to be told what to do. But the smile I saw come across her face spoke louder than any words ever could.

I took her closer into my arms and kissed her gently and softly at first, but her lips met mine and returned the love that I was feeling inside. Our kiss became deeper, and more intimate, and I had never felt so connected to anyone in my entire life. We were interrupted by an "ahhh emmmm" and looked up to see Tank, Bobby and a nurse standing in the doorway.

Tank spoke first. "Boss, you're gonna have to cut that out. You'll make her blood pressure rise even more, and then we'll have to kick you out!"

Stephanie laughed and said "Oh no. He's not going anywhere anytime soon. Whatever happens…." her voice trailed off. "Well, whatever happens, we're going through it together, right Ranger?"

I kissed her on top of her head. "Right Babe! We're a team."

I stepped out of the way so that the nurse could come and take the vitals. Bobby and Tank went to the chairs over in the corner. The nurse checked on the blood hanging on the IV pole, and seemed happy with what she saw.

"Ms. Plum, I will be bringing in the final bag of blood to hang in a few moments. Can I get you anything?"

Steph shook her head "no" and the nurse exited the room.

"Babe, why don't you try to rest some? I'm here with you now, and there's nothing to worry about. "

She nodded and I sat back onto the bed with her again. She snuggled her head onto my shoulder, as I wrapped her in my arms. I realized then and there that I was no longer worried about my bad ass image. I had always taken my duty to my country seriously, and there was a certain thrill of the hunt when I went into the wind on missions. As I looked down at Stephanie lying in my arms, I realized that I was ready for the next chapter in my life. I was ready to let someone into my life and my heart. I was ready for forever.


	10. Chapter 10

_I am stunned at the kind words I've received from this story. I'm sorry for the long delay in updating and I promise to try to do better, but real life with work and classes has been over whelming. _

_Once again, characters are not mine. Unfortunately! Now on with the story._

_Previously:_

_She nodded and I sat back onto the bed with her again. She snuggled her head onto my shoulder, as I wrapped her in my arms. I realized then and there that I was no longer worried about my bad ass image. I had always taken my duty to my country seriously, and there was a certain thrill of the hunt when I went into the wind on missions. As I looked down at Stephanie lying in my arms, I realized that I was ready for the next chapter in my life. I was ready to let someone into my life and my heart. I was ready for forever._

Carols POV

I was awakened by the glimmer of sun through the windows to Babe's hospital room. I looked over to Stephanie as she slept. Her hair was wild around her, and she was still hooked up to an IV and fetal monitor. I stretched lazily on the small cot that the nurse had placed in the room for me. I let myself think back to the past two weeks. It was hard to believe that it was merely two weeks ago that I had returned from the mission. While it wasn't a combat mission, it still was important. I was glad when Silvio finally returned yesterday, along with Lester, and the takedown had been a success. With Stephanie still on bed rest, and still in the hospital, we have had plenty of time to talk about our relationship and the future. I knew that I loved her with all my heart and soul, and I desperately wanted to ask her to marry me. But I didn't want her to feel like I was just marrying her because of the baby. I have had the ring for her for months. I had it designed myself and picked it up on one of my trips to Miami to see Julie. Julie has been ecstatic about the baby, and we have talked or emailed daily. Stephanie has brought light into my otherwise dark existence. I don't think she realizes how important that she is to me.

I hear Stephanie mumble "Good morning Batman."

"Morning Babe. How did you sleep? How are you feeling?"

"Okay I guess. I told you to go home and get some rest."

"Babe, I'm fine. I don't want to be away from you unless I have to be. Tank is taking care of things at Rangeman, and I will attend those meetings that are absolutely necessary."

"Well, at least go home to shower and change. You need a change in scenery. I know you must feel like a caged bird. God knows I do."

"Babe, I know it's hard to stay in the hospital. But it's for the best. Just think about our little bambino! "

"I know, Carolos, that's why I've tried really hard not to complain about it. I still find it hard to believe that we're really having a baby. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind!"

"I know Babe. But you're happy, right? You want this as much as I do?"

"Yes. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not scared. But I think we'll do fine. As long as we're together. What about you? Now that you've had some time for things to sink in, are you nervous? Scared?"

"Yes to both. But it's a good nervous and a good type of scared. I'm getting a second chance to do all the things I never got to do with Julie. And I'm going to get to do those things with the woman I love. "

I pulled Stephanie into my arms and scooted onto the bed with her. This was not the time, nor the place that I had wanted to propose. But something just felt right about the intimate moment that we were sharing.

"Stephanie, I've seen some really bad stuff in my life. And I never thought I'd open myself to love and let anyone inside the walls I built. But then you came along. I want to spend the rest of my life raising babies with you, building dreams and futures with you, and growing old with you. Will you marry me?"

I pulled the diamond that I had been carrying around in my pocket out of my jeans. The look of shock on Stephanie's face was evident and tears started to fall.

"Carlos, I…."

"Before you say anything Steph, please know that this is not just because of the baby. I bought this ring in Miami several months ago. If you say yes, and I pray to God that you do, I am not going to rush you. And although I'd love for us to marry before the baby is born, I am going to leave the date up to you. But I want you to know that I am ready to give you my whole heart. My contract with the government is over, and I am ready to have a future. I'm not a perfect man, and I know that I have built walls that are hard to get around. But I'm asking you, begging you, to be the one that does it. Please be my wife. "

Stephanie sat there for a few seconds looking deep into my eyes. For a split second, I was worried that maybe I had been too hasty and scared her. A lot had happened in the past few weeks. I had never been so completely open with anyone in my entire life. Time seemed to stand still as I looked into her eyes.

"Carlos, I would love to be your wife. Yes, I will marry you. But I want to wait until after the baby is born. I don't want everyone thinking it was just because of the baby."

I nodded my head in understanding as I pulled her into a deep kiss. She said yes! She agreed to be my wife! Our kiss turned passionate, and I pulled her to me even tighter, willing the moment to never end. I could stay wrapped up in her arms forever!

We pulled apart and I slipped the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly.

"Do you like it? I had it made for you."

"Carlos, it's perfect. You're perfect. I don't know how to tell you how much you mean to me."

I pulled her to me once again, and kissed her softly. Our lips brushing each other softly and tenderly. No words were needed as we sat there lost in the moment.

Later on in the day, Lester came by to see Steph.

"Hey Beautiful! Fancy meeting you here!" he said, as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Lester, you big nut! How are you?"

"I should be asking you the same thing? Are you feeling ok? How s the little babe doing?"

"I'm good. I am going stir crazy being in this bed all day long. But otherwise, good. I'm trying to get Carlos to go home for a while. He's been here practically nonstop for the past two weeks. Can you talk some sense into him?"

I sat there as they continued to talk about me as if I wasn't here. When did I lose my bad ass image? I finally interrupted their conversation.

"Babe, would you please stop worrying about me? Tell you what. Since Lester is here, I'll go home and shower and change. I'll check on things at Rangeman and be back without an hour or two. How's that? Lester, do you mind staying until I get back?"

"Not at all Boss. That will give us some time to catch up alone!" Lester waggled his eyebrows for flirtacious effect. I growled and bent over to kiss Babe.

"If he gets out of hand, call me." I smiled as I said it and she nodded while chuckling.

I hesitated as I walked out of the hospital and went to the Porsche that had been parked in the lot for me. I had a strange feeling that something was off. As if something bad were going to happen. Maybe I had been hanging around Steph too long and my spidey senses were in overdrive.

I made the drive to Haywood and parked in the garage. I fobbed myself up to seven and stripped and showered. I dressed in jeans and a button up shirt, and then made my way down to the control room. Tank was in the hall when I stepped out of the stairway.

"'Morning Ranger. How's Steph?"

"About the same. She's doing good but is going stir crazy. I don't know how much longer she can take being pent up in that hospital room. The only thing that is keeping her sane and in the bed is worrying about the baby. "

"How are you doing?"

I do my best to give him my patented blank face stare. "I'm fine. What do you mean?"

"Cut the crap Boss. You know what I mean. You've been with her night and day for two weeks, only coming back to check on things and shower and change. I'm sure you've not slept well, and you have to be stressed too. You've just found out you're having a baby. And Steph, well, she could have died if Bobby hadn't have found her when he did. I just meant how are you handling the stress? Can I do anything for you? For Steph?"

I let out a long sigh. Yes, me, Ricardo Carlos Manuso sighed. I hadn't really allowed myself to process all of the stress I had been under. And I certainly had not allowed myself to think about the day that Bobby found her in the apartment.

"Thanks Tank. I'm really okay. I just want her and the baby to be healthy and safe, you know? I wasn't there when she needed me. So I want to be there as much as I can now. I asked her to marry me this morning."

Tank looked up at me with a huge grin. "About damned time you pulled your head out of your ass!" He hit me on the back and shook my hand, pulling me into a side hug. Tank was one of my best friends. No, probably the best friend I had, besides Steph.

"Thanks man. I appreciate it."

"She actually said yes? I mean, you two have never been the best at communicating and talking about future plans. "

"She did say yes. I'm still having a hard time believing it too. But she wants to wait until after the baby is born. I'd prefer to do it now, but I won't push her or try to make her do something she's not ready for. I've done that enough already. I don't want her to think it's just because of the baby. It's not. I bought the ring months ago. I want whatever part of her she will let me have. I can't imagine….Tank I can't imagine my life without her."

Tank bellowed a loud laugh. "What's so funny Tank?"

"Just you two! Two people who can't communicate worth shit, two people who both had a fear of commitment, two people who pride themselves on not needing anybody….and well, now you are the two people who are absolutely, perfectly made for each other! "

He's right. I hate to admit it. As much as I would like to think that I don't need anyone in my life, and in my heart, I now know that I am hopelessly and unconditionally dependent on Stephanie's love. It's like air for my soul.

We were interrupted by my cell phone ringing. I looked at the display and it was Santos.

I answered it on the first ring. "Santos, what's wrong?"

"Boss, you need to get back to the hospital. Steph's water just broke. And she's having some strong contractions."

I could hear Steph in the background moaning and screaming. "Is she ok?"

"Boss, just get back here now. She's calling for you."

"On my way!"

Tank looked nervously at me as I was heading for the stairs. He was right behind me. "What's going on Ranger?"

As we ran down the stairs I explained. "Steph's water just broke. I left Santos with her while I came back to shower. I've got to get back to her."

I was sprinting towards the Porsche, when Tank took the keys from me. "Man you are in no condition to be driving."

I didn't argue. He was probably right. I slid into the passenger seat, and pulled out my phone. Brown answered on the second ring.

"Brown, Steph's water just broke and she's contracting! I'm on my way back to the hospital. Can you meet us there? I'd like to have you there just in case the baby is delivered. So one of us can stay with Steph and one can go with the baby."

"On my way."

My mind was racing a thousand miles a minute. Would the baby be delivered today? Would they be able to hold off labor again? Was Stephanie going to be okay? If something happened to her my world would end. And what if the baby didn't make it? Could we handle that? I didn't even want to allow myself to think about that. Tank interrupted my internal ramblings.

"Man she's gonna be fine. Don't worry."

"Easier said than done. I just don't know what I would do if I lost her, Tank."

"Well, you're not going to lose her. You two have had your head in your asses too long. The big man upstairs has to see that. You've just started living. It's gonna be just fine."

So right then and there in the Porsche, with Tank crammed behind the steering wheel, racing through the streets of Trenton, and me in the passenger seat, I prayed. I begged God as I had never begged before. 'Please let it all work out. Please take care of Stephanie and our child. I know I've never been a religious man, but if I am ever going to be worthy of anything in life, please let me be worthy of them. Please allow them to live, so that I can live. Without them, my life has no meaning.'

I looked up to find Tank pulling into the hospital lot. Before the car was in park, I opened the door and jumped out. I sprinted into the hospital and raced up the stairs to the maternity floor. There were people going in and out of Stephanie's room, looking slightly panicked.

As I got closer to the room, I heard Stephanie before I saw her. Her scream could be heard in the hallway, and I ran into the room. As I entered, I found Stephanie already in stirrups. She was panting and crying. I ran to her, trying to take the whole scene in.

"Carlos….iit…it hurts! I'm…. I'm scared!"

"Ssssh….Quierda. Everything is going to be just fine. Don't worry. I'm here now. "

"My water broke …..and….and there's blood. They think the placenta has detached and….."

Just then Stephanie's doctor walked in, while putting on a gown and gloves. Nurses were bustling around in the corner, and Lester had stepped behind the curtain near the door.

The doctor moved with efficient ease, but I could see that he was concerned. He spoke quietly but with authority and seriousness.

"Stephanie, I need you to listen to me. Your water has broken, and there's a lot of blood as well. I think the placenta is abrupting completely, and we may need to deliver the baby now. There's no time to wait. Your room here can be used as a delivery room, so the nurses are getting everything set up just in case. I am going to check you to see if you are dilated. Just relax."

The doctor moved towards the end of the bed, and inserted his fingers to check Stephanie's cervix. Normally I would have had a shit fit, but all I could think about was holding it together for Stephanie. Stephanie moaned and shifted as he checked her, gripping my hand tighter and tighter.

"It's ok Steph. I'm right here. Squeeze my hand all you want. "

She was crying in earnest now, huge tears were dripping from her face. I used the hand that was not currently in Stephanie's vice to wipe the tears from her face, and kissed her forehead. She was moaning from the pain as he checked her.

The doctor finally finished up and whispered something to the nurses. Everything seemed to speed up around the room after that. I spoke up first.

"Doctor, what's wrong? What's happening?"

"Stephanie's fully dilated. The baby has to be born now. But when I checked her, I felt a foot. The baby isn't in the correct position since it is so early. We are going to have to do a c-section. It's too dangerous to try to deliver the baby vaginally with it being so premature. Stephanie has had several rounds of steroids to try to mature the baby's lungs. But I am worried about blood loss since she lost so much back when she had the partial abruption. The nurse will bring some scrubs in for you if you'd like to accompany her for the operation. Stephanie, would you like him with you?"

"Yes, please!"

I looked into her eyes, and pulled her to me, trying to give her strength for what might lie ahead. "Wild horses couldn't keep me away, Babe!"

Everything seemed to happen at super sonic speed. In the midst of the whirlwind, Bobby arrived, and Lester went to the waiting room with Tank. I pulled the doctor aside quickly to ask if Bobby could accompany us into the delivery since one of us would be with Steph and the other would accompany the baby. He had already been briefed on the nature of our work, and said as long as Stephanie agreed, she could have two people with her in the delivery room.

"Babe, Bobby is going to go into the operating room with us. Someone will need to go with the baby to NICU, and I don't want you left alone, okay?"

She nodded while tears still flowed. Bobby stood on one side of the bed, while I held her hand and stood on the other.

"Bombshell, just look at it this way. You get to meet your baby today. It's going to be his or her birthday! Just hold onto that positive thought!"

Stephanie nodded, and bit her lip. A contraction gripped her, and she screamed. "Oooooowwww! It hurts! There's too much pressure! I need to push!" She breathed heavily and blew out her breath in short puffs. A nurse quickly walked up beside Bobby.

"Stephanie, listen to me. You _can not_ push. I need you to breathe in through your nose, and pant the breaths out through your mouth. Whatever you do, do not push. The contraction will end in just a second."

The nurses and doctor were rolling her bed out the door as Bobby and I still held to Stephanie's hands. We were heading for the elevator, when Stephanie screamed again. She shook her head, trying to pant through the pain. She gripped tighter on my hand. "It's….not….ending…".

I didn't understand what she was saying. "What is it Babe? What do you mean?"

"The contraction…It's….not …ending. Something's wrong. Something's happening …"

The nurse looked quickly towards the doctor, and to the other personnel who were pushing the hospital bed towards the elevator. The doctor stopped them and lifted the sheet to look underneath. "Shit! Push the bed back into the room! Hurry!"

Stephanie looked at me frantically, and I quickly asked "What's going on? Why are we going back?"

The doctor was hurrying into a new pair of sterile gloves. Bobby was tying his gown in the back. Nurses were hurrying to break the bed down into delivery position and place Stephanie's legs back into the stirrups.

"Because there's no time. The baby is coming now. The foot is already out. Stephanie give me just a minute, and I'm going to have you push."

"I….can't wait….I….have…to…push!"

I moved closer to Steph's face. "Stephanie, Babe, look at me. You can do this. You are the strongest person that I know. Breathe Babe. Take deep breaths. Just hold on for a second or two longer. Think about our baby, and how special it's going to be to hold him."

"Him? Cccarlos…..you think…it's a boy?" She managed to say through the pain.

"Babe, I think whatever it is, we will love him or her more than imaginable! Just concentrate on not pushing, Babe. Just a few more seconds!"

The doctor had finally gotten everything into position. "Stephanie, push your chin down, hold your breath, pull your legs up and push for me. Push for a count of ten. One…..two…three…four…" the doctor counted.

Stephanie pulled her legs up and I held one and Bobby held the other. She strained and pushed until the doctor finally counted to ten. She blew out a long breath and relaxed back onto the bed.

The doctor spoke up "Ok. Good one. With the next contraction, I want you to push again."

A nurse handed me a cool washcloth to wipe Steph's face with. I looked at her, smiling. "You're doing so good Babe. Just relax. You're doing it, Steph!"

"Carlos, I feel another contraction coming. They are coming so fast!"

I looked to the doctor at the foot of the bed for guidance. "Good Stephanie, do the same thing again. Push!" And he started the counting over.

Stephanie pushed and the doctor only made it to a count of seven. "Stop Stephanie! Breathe through the contraction but do not push. I'm going to deliver the shoulders and head, and I need to turn the baby."

Stephanie panted heavily and I looked down to see the baby being delivered. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. The baby was tiny and the color was pale and ashen. As the doctor maneuvered the tiny body, he instructed Stephanie to push again. She did and the rest of the baby was delivered. Stephanie cried out, as tears ran down my face. I didn't try to stop them as they flowed and clouded my vision. All I could think of was the tiny baby that was part of me and part of Stephanie. I loved it already, and it wasn't even a minute old.

The doctor moved quickly, allowing me to cut the cord, as he said "It's a boy!" He then handed the baby off to a nurse who placed him in a warmer in the corner of the room where the NICU staff waited. Stephanie interrupted my thoughts as I watched the staff take over the care of our child.

"Carlos, go with him! Why isn't he crying? What's happening?"

I got up and rushed over to our son as I watched the medical staff work quickly on him. They rubbed him to stimulate him, and were trying to suction his airway. He made a slight cry and my heart soared! The NICU staff worked quickly and efficiently, and were soon ready to head to the nursery with our son. "Mr. Manuso, we will be taking your son to the NICU nursery. You can follow us there and get a report from the doctor after he's been evaluated."

I looked over to Stephanie. The doctor was still working with her, and Bobby was still holding her hand. Stephanie met my gaze and nodded. "Carlos, I will be ok. Go with our son. Don't let him be alone. Bobby can stay with me."

I quickly kissed her. "Babe, I am so proud of you. You were so strong and brave. I love you!"

"I love you too Carlos. Go! Make sure he's going to be ok!"

I rushed from the room, quickly following the staff as they rolled the small isolette containing my son into the elevator. My eyes never left my son as he was lying there connected to all sorts of wires and tubes. I've never felt so happy, yet so helpless, in all of my life. There, in the elevator, I prayed once more. I thanked God for the miracle of my son. And I prayed for strength for him to fight in the days ahead.


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you all so much for the positive reviews. I know I haven't been able to respond to each and every one, but please know that your reviews mean the world to me!

I don't own any of the characters and am just taking them out for a joy ride.

_Previously:_

_I looked over to Stephanie. The doctor was still working with her, and Bobby was still holding her hand. Stephanie met my gaze and nodded. "Carlos, I will be ok. Go with our son. Don't let him be alone. Bobby can stay with me."_

_I quickly kissed her. "Babe, I am so proud of you. You were so strong and brave. I love you!"_

_"I love you too Carlos. Go! Make sure he's going to be ok!"_

_I rushed from the room, quickly following the staff as they rolled the small isolette containing my son into the elevator. My eyes never left my son as he was lying there connected to all sorts of wires and tubes. I've never felt so happy, yet so helpless, in all of my life. There, in the elevator, I prayed once more. I thanked God for the miracle of my son. And I prayed for strength for him to fight in the days ahead._

When the elevator doors opened, a NICU nurse pulled me aside. "Mr. Manoso, we will be taking care of your son and checking him over to see how he's doing. This will take a few minutes, but you are welcome to stand here in the window and watch. Once we are finished, one of the NICU pediatricians will come out and talk with you. First, I need to put this bracelet on your arm. Identical ones will be put on your son and on Stephanie. Do you have a name picked out yet?"

"No, we never…." I wasn't sure what to say. Everything had happened so fast in the past few weeks, we had totally overlooked picking out a name.

"It's ok. You have time. I'll be back with you shortly."

I stood in the window while nurses and doctors listened to my son's lungs and heart. He was so tiny, and there, in that moment, I felt helpless. I have always prided myself on being prepared for anything. But nothing in my entire life had ever prepared me for the feelings and emotions that were flooding my mind this minute. Sure, I was around babies all my life. And I know the absolute love that a parent feels for their child. I have a daughter for Pete's sake! But when Julie was born, I was in the army, and she was already four months old by the time I met her. I wasn't there for the birth. And she was full term. It was nothing like this. Seeing my son there in the clear isolette, attached to wires tubes, he looks so helpless and fragile. I would give anything to be able to make him better. To have given him a few more weeks in his tiny cocoon in his mother's womb.

After what seemed like an eternity, a tall middle aged man made his way from the NICU to the nursery window where I was standing. "Mr. Manoso?" He shook my hand as I turned to him. "Yes, please tell me! How is my son?"

"Well, so far things look pretty good. I won't lie to you and say he's out of the woods, but he is holding his own right now. He was very early, 25 weeks in fact. But he's in the right place. We're equipped to take care of babies this early, and right now he's strong and fighting. Your wife was given steroids early enough to help develop his lungs. Her being able to hold off labor for the past two weeks helped give him an even better fighting chance. Had he been born when she first came in, his odds probably wouldn't have been so good. He is on a ventilator that is helping him to breathe. But his settings are low, so the machine isn't having to do all the work for him. He weighs 1 pound 14 ounces and is 13 and a half inches long. His chances for survival right now are a little better than 50 to 60%, but like I said, we were able to give Stephanie steroids so he has that in his favor. He has a long road ahead of him. Some babies have lingering difficulties and disabilities due to being premature. But right now it's too early to know what those will be, if any. He will most likely be in the hospital at least two and a half to three months. We will continue to run tests on him, and he will be closely monitored. Do you have any questions so far?"

"How long until we can see him? Until Stephanie can see him?"

"We're still getting him settled in. Stephanie will be cleaned up and they will keep a close check on her for the next several hours. Once she is stable from the delivery, they will bring her up to see him. I'll let you peek in for a few minutes while the nurses are working and getting blood samples from him. The nurse will show you where to scrub in and you'll have to put on a gown."

"Thank you doctor."

I followed the nurse to a small room with a sink and a cart filled with yellow gowns and towels.

"Mr. Manoso, follow the instructions on the wall for washing your hands. It's very important because all of the babies in the NICU have compromised immune systems from them being born too early. Once you have washed your hands and arms for the specified length of time, you can grab one of the gowns behind you and put it on. I'll help you tie it in the back. Then you can go meet your son. You won't be able to hold him, but you can put your hands through the isolette and touch him. "

The nurse stood there waiting on me to wash and scrub my hands. Once I was finished, she helped me into the required gown and I made my way to my son's sterile environment. Some of the nurses and doctors had wandered to other babies in the NICU, and there was only one nurse left with him. She was writing notes on a clipboard and looked up. "Hello. I'm Brittany. You must be the proud papa! Your son is doing well so far. Would you like to touch his hand?"

My eyes were glued to the small form lying in the clear isolette. I nodded feebly, and the nurse smiled and chuckled lightly. "Don't worry. All new dads are nervous. He's very small, but he's doing okay right now. You can reach in and touch him if you'd like. But be gentle. Premature babies are born with immature nervous systems so their reaction to things can be exaggerated. Just be very gentle and touch him lightly. We try to make sure the babies here aren't over stimulated by sound, touch, or light. It can make them fussy and make them struggle more than necessary."

Brittany stepped to the side and opened up one side of the isolette. I reached in and ever so lightly, hesitantly, touched my son's hand. He was barely longer than my hand! As I touched his small, frail hand, he wrapped his tiny fingers around my index finger. That one action was all it took for the dam gates to break and tears silently ran down my face. His grip was light, but I stood there in silence as this small wonder gripped my finger and my heart.

"Mr. Manoso, it looks like he knows who his daddy is. He's already wrapped around your finger, huh?"

I responded in a voice so quiet, it surprised me. "Yes. He does. It's hard to believe he can do that. He's so small."

"Yes, he's small. But he's bigger than some 25 weekers that we've had in here. Do you have any questions for me at this time? I'm going to have to take him for a couple of tests shortly, but we'll ring the phone in your wife's room when we bring him back. Her nurses will bring her down in a few hours to see him."

I finally broke my gaze from my son. "She's actually my fiancée. As far as questions, the doctor that I spoke with answered most of the questions I had. But I do have one concern. My fiancée and I…both of us…we work in a line of work that is, shall we say, dangerous. There are people who would love nothing more than to harm us or my son in some way. I have already spoken with the doctors in labor and delivery, but there will be someone here watching over him the entire time he is here. I assume that won't be a problem?"

"We've already been told of the arrangements that were made by you and hospital administration. The guard won't be able to stay in the room with him at all times, but we will make sure that he is within sight range of the baby at all times. We've placed his isolette in front of the viewing windows, closest to the nurses' station, so that it is convenient for both us and whomever you have here. The hospital is also equipped with a monitoring system. The baby is fitted with a special ankle bracelet and can't be removed from the confines of the NICU. If anyone tries, an alarm sounds and the entire ward goes on lockdown. Does that sound ok?"

I nodded my head in understanding. "Thank you Brittany. I'll go check on my fiancée now. Bobby Brown will be with my son until we return."

I took a couple of quick pictures with my cell phone for Stephanie, and then stepped outside the nurse's area to phone Bobby. I asked him to come to the NICU so that I could go and check on Stephanie. He was there within a few minutes and I couldn't hide the smile on my face.

"How is the little man Boss?"

"He's holding his own Bobby. They say he was born way too early, but he's strong man. His nurse said for now he's doing well. I got to touch him, and he grabbed my finger. It was almost as if he knew who I was. It's unbelievable. Two weeks ago I had no idea that I was going to be a dad again, and now…it's just unbelievable."

"Parenthood suits you man. You are beaming! You're gonna lose that badass image of yours if you aren't careful! Go see Bombshell. She's worried sick and the nurses haven't told her anything yet. I'll stay here as long as you need."

"Call Haywood and have a schedule drawn up for guys to cover the NICU in shifts. They tell me Steph can come back in a few hours to see him. We'll be back then. Oh, and thanks Bobby. For everything."

"Don't mention it Boss. Now go, before Bombshell sneaks out of her room and finds her way up here."

I left the NICU and made my way back down to Steph's room. She looked tired and pale. Tank was sitting in the chair beside the bed, rubbing her hand. When I entered, her head turned towards me and in her eyes I could see the depths of fear she was experiencing.

"Carlos, how is he? Did you see him? What's going on?"

I made my way over to the bed and sat beside her, taking her into my arms. "Ssssh Babe. It's ok. He's doing okay. The doctors and nurses said that he's holding his own. I got to see him and touch him. He held my finger for a minute. He's tiny but he's beautiful. He's just beautiful. He is the perfect mixture of both of us. His skin is a little lighter than mine, but I didn't get to see his eyes. They were closed. His hair is dark, but looks like it's going to be wavy or curly. I guess it's too early to tell right now. He's on a machine that is helping him to breathe but they said he is breathing on his own some. Bobby is with him now."

She held on to me tightly while tears of relief flowed from her eyes. I gently stroked her hair as she sniffled. "I was so worried. I'm so scared that something is going to happen to him. When can I see him?"

"Right now you need to rest Babe. But I already asked and they said they will take you up to see him in a few hours. But the doctor did say that you being on bed rest and being able to hold off labor for the past two weeks gave him a better chance. I'm proud of you, Babe."

Stephanie looked up at me and I could see relief in her eyes. Her features softened a little, and I bent down to kiss her. "I have a surprise for you Babe."

I unclipped my cell phone from my belt and opened the pictures I had taken of our son. "I took these for you to look at until they let you go see him. Isn't he adorable?"

Her eyes were affixed to the small screen of my phone and she simply nodded in agreement. "Our son. He's…beautiful. Perfect."

I kissed her again and held her tightly. "Babe, have you thought about a name yet?"

"Well, aren't you named after your father? I thought you might want to carry on the name with our son. Ricardo Carlos Manoso III. We could call him Trey. "

"Babe. You don't have to do that. I love it, but if you have your heart set on something else, my family will understand."

"No, I want to. I think it will be perfect. And it's a strong name. He needs a strong name. He needs something to live up to and a name that will remind him of all the strong men that are in his family."

"In _our_ family Babe. Thank you. For giving me a child. For our son."

"Carlos, did you call our family? To tell them about Trey?"

"No Babe. Not yet. I'll have Tank call them."

I stepped out into the hall and asked Tank to make the necessary phone calls. As we were talking, a nurse stepped into Stephanie's room to take her vital signs and check on her. She was finishing up as I entered the room.

"Ms. Plum, your blood pressure is still a little high, but it is coming down. We'll continue to give you meds over the next few days. We also have to draw some blood to check and see if your counts are still low. We may need to transfuse an additional pint or two. I'll call your doctor to see once we get the lab report back. Are you having any pain right now?"

Stephanie shook her head. "Not really. Just soreness and cramping."

"That's completely normal. Someone will be in shortly to draw some blood and we'll let you know the results shortly. Try to rest some. In a few hours you'll be able to go see your son unless we have to give you blood."

Stephanie nodded again, and after the nurse left, I sat back on the bed with her. "How are you really feeling Babe? Are you hurting? I know you won't ask for pain medicine, but if you're hurting you need to tell them."

"Carlos, really, I'm not hurting too bad. I'm really really sore. How much did Trey weigh?"

"He weighed 1 pound 14 ounces and was thirteen and a half inches long. He's so tiny Babe. He's hardly longer than my hand!"

"Can you believe it? I gave birth to him? I was so scared! I can't believe I was pregnant and never knew!"

"I know Babe. It's a miracle. I know it's going to take some time to adjust to. But you're happy, right? I mean, with us? With the baby?"

Stephanie looked up at me and the answer I was looking for was in her eyes. "Yes Carlos. I love you. I love our son. And I'm happier than I've ever been in my entire life! I never thought that this was something that I wanted. But I think the reason I didn't want it was because I always imagined it with the wrong person. Somehow, this…our son…our relationship. It all feels right because it's with you. "

I placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled her close. "I love you Babe. More than you'll ever know. I love you so much it scares me. And now I love our son. I still can't believe we have a son!

"You need to call Julie also. Do you think she'll be excited?"

"Of course she will Babe. I've talked to her several times over the past couple of weeks. I told her we were having a baby, and she made me promise to call her once we found out what it was. I guess I just didn't expect to be calling her and telling her we found out when you gave birth!"

Just then, a nurse came in to draw the needed blood for the lab work that the doctor had ordered. "Mr. Plum, will you be staying with your wife?"

Stephanie quickly spoke. "Actually, he's my fiancé. His name is Carlos Manoso. "

I smiled at the nurse. "And yes, I will be staying with my fiancée and I'd appreciate a blanket and pillow. Thank you."

The nurse exited the room, and Stephanie seemed deep in thought. "Something wrong Babe?"

"Hmmm?"

"What's got your wheels turning in that brain of yours? Are you ok?"

"Yes. I was just thinking. Will you do something for me?"

"Name it Babe. Anything."

"I want to get married."

"Babe, I thought we already agreed on that. We _are_ getting married. I asked, and you said yes. Remember, you wanted to wait until the baby was born."

"I know. And he's born. I want to get married now. I don't want to wait. I want our son to have a mom and dad that are together. Physically and legally. I don't need the big burg wedding. And I don't need a ton of people here to witness it. I only need you. I know it's not very traditional. And I know that it's totally not what is expected of us. But we love each other and we've been together for several months now. And I've loved you for years. I guess I always knew that I loved you. Can you make it happen? Can you call someone? Do you think we could just get married here? Today or tomorrow even?"

I looked into her eyes as I held her. "Are you sure Babe? You don't want a real wedding with flowers and cake and the whole thing?"

"I'm sure Carlos. Is that what you want? Do you want a big wedding?"

"Babe, I wanted to marry you two weeks ago when I asked you. As long as you are happy I am happy. I just don't want you to have any regrets. What about your family?"

"What about them? I've lived my life for my mom and the burg too long. We'll tell them when they get here. And we'll tell your family too. Let's do this. Ok?"

"You got it Babe! Let me make a few phone calls."

I kissed her and stood up. As I started dialing, Stephanie's parents and grandma entered the room. I stepped out into the hall to finish my calls.

After four hours, numerous phone calls, and a several favors being called in, Stephanie's hospital room had been transformed into something slightly more adequate for our nuptials. Tank got on the phone and quickly invited Lula, Connie, and Mary Lou. Although Stephanie said she didn't need a lot of people, I knew it was important to her for our closest friends to be here for this day. Her parents and my parents were in attendance, as well as Grandma Mazur and my abuela. Ella stopped by the jeweler on the way in and picked up our wedding bands that we had ordered on the day I proposed, and she arrived with a cake from the Tasty Pastry as well. Lester, Bobby and Tank surrounded one side of Stephanie's hospital bed, while Lula, Connie, and Mary Lou stood around the other side. A justice of the peace stood at the foot of the bed, and the rest of the family surrounded us. I sat on the bed with my Babe, since she was still weak from the blood loss and had just given birth a few hours earlier. I'm sure the nurses in the hospital had never seen anything quite like it, but they all gathered outside the door to our room as we said our vows. When the justice of the peace finally said I could now kiss my bride, tears were readily flowing from not only mine and Stephanie's eyes, but also most of the people in attendance. I guess our love was obvious to everyone else for so long, it came as a relief to everyone to finally see us admitting our love for each other and becoming one.

After we were married, I thanked everyone for coming on such short notice, and appeased both mothers by promising that we would have a more formal reception later after Trey was released from the hospital. Since he was in the NICU, everyone couldn't see him, but I passed my phone around for everyone to get a glimpse of our son. I was finally able to usher everyone from the room when the nurse on duty checked Stephanie's blood pressure again and found it to still be slightly higher than desired.

"Babe, how are you feeling?"

"I'm tired, but good Mr. Manoso. How are you?"

"Mrs. Manoso, I'm wonderful. I have a beautiful new son. And a beautiful new wife. What more could I ask for?"

"I'm sure you didn't expect to spend our honeymoon in a labor and delivery suite when you asked me to marry you."

"Babe, I don't care about any of that. As long as I have you and Trey, and Julie, and as long as we are all happy and healthy."

"Carlos, what if something happens to Trey. I know the doctors said he's doing good. But…I'm scared."

"Babe, whatever happens, we'll be in it together. For better or worse, in sickness and health, we have each other. We'll make it through this. And Trey will too. There's too much of me and you in him for him not to be a survivor."

Later that evening, Stephanie was allowed to go and visit Trey in the NICU. A nurse helped us get settled into a wheelchair, and I pushed Stephanie down the corridor to our son's corner of the ward. I helped her stand at the handwash station, and Brittany was still on duty when we arrived.

"Brittany this is my wife Stephanie. Stephanie this is Brittany, Trey's nurse for this shift."

Brittany looked slightly confused. "Nice to meet you Stephanie. I thought you were his fiancé? He said earlier…"

We both laughed and grinned at each other. I was the first to speak. "A lot can change in four hours. "

Stephanie finished up at the wash station and sat back down in the wheelchair. Brittany and I assisted her over to the isolette where our son was sleeping and she reached in to lightly touch his hand.

"Oh Carlos! He's beautiful! He's so tiny! He looks so much like you!"

Tears of love, joy, and happiness were readily falling down Stephanie's face. I bent down to her side and wiped the tears from her face. "Babe, he is the perfect mixture of both of us. Look, he has your nose. And he has my lips."

As we sat there gazing at our newborn son, I couldn't help but realize that this was what I had been missing all my life. This was what I tried so hard to distance myself from, and in reality, it was what I needed all along. I felt complete. I felt whole. And for once in my life, everything in the world was right.

(More to come!)


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you all so much for the positive reviews. I know I haven't been able to respond to each and every one, but please know that your reviews mean the world to me! And they encourage me to write more!

None of the characters are my creation (except for Trey) and am just taking them out for a joy ride. Thanks to Janet Evanovich for creating such loveable characters.

_Previously:_

_As we sat there gazing at our newborn son, I couldn't help but realize that this was what I had been missing all my life. This was what I tried so hard to distance myself from, and in reality, it was what I needed all along. I felt complete. I felt whole. And for once in my life, everything in the world was right. _

Ranger's POV:

Stephanie stayed in the hospital for three days after Trey's delivery, and then was discharged. I took care of finding and renting a condo near the hospital, since Newark had a NICU and the hospital in Trenton didn't. This made it easier on us since we were at the hospital several times a day. Our days were filled with doing the things new parents do, the only difference being we had to travel to the NICU each day. Neither of us wanted to be apart from him very long so I worked from the condo when we were there, and only attended those meetings that were absolutely necessary.

Most mornings we would wake up early, shower, and then go see Trey. Stephanie chose to breast feed, and although Trey couldn't suckle or nurse, she pumped breast milk for him several times a day and we took it to the NICU for him. Stephanie was dismayed at how her previous petite breasts had taken on a life of their own since Trey's delivery. I, however, was loving every minute of it.

Sometimes we had lunch at the hospital. But most days, we would come back to the apartment and heat up food from Ella. Steph would rest while I worked on the laptop, and then we would venture back to the NICU to visit Trey again in the evenings. This was how our time was spent for weeks on end. The doctors and nurses were impressed with Trey's progress and he was steadily gaining weight. Each day seemed to bring a new milestone for him. We celebrated the small things each day: an ounce gained, coming off the ventilator, holding down his milk, sucking from a bottle, etc. You name it, it was a cause for celebration for us. We were counting down the days until we got to take him home.

Stephanie had taken to motherhood like a duck to water. For someone who always feared marriage and motherhood, she took to it like she did everything else in life. Perfectly. Back when she decided to take on the job as a bounty hunter, she did so with a 100 percent capture rate. She may have captured her FTA's by in unorthodox ways, but she was good at it. When she did research for Rangeman, she attacked it with a gusto that most employees don't have. She has always went about any given task with excitement and determination. Parenthood for Stephanie has been no different. She has devoured any information that she could find on premature babies. She's constantly reading baby books- that is, when we're not visiting Trey. And when I'm not working on the laptop, she's researching therapy and early intervention for premature babies. I'm amazed at how she's taken on the role of mother. Although I'm not surprised. I knew she would be an excellent mother. She's the most caring and nurturing person I know. We've learned a lot about what to expect in the coming months with Trey's care, and what to do when we get home with him.

Today marks Trey's six week birthday. Which also means that Stephanie has her six week checkup with the OB/GYN that delivered Trey. So far, we haven't been able to consummate our marriage, although we've had a hard time keeping our hands off of each other. We've shared passionate kisses and heavy petting, but hopefully today will be the day! _Dios_! I can't wait to make love to my wife. It's still hard to believe that just a couple of months ago, neither of us knew we were going to have a baby. And now we're married with an amazing son. How quickly life can change and be put into perspective. I never thought I'd open myself up to love considering my past. But Stephanie changed all of that. Somehow I feel like we can get through anything together.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by Stephanie coming down the hallway from our bedroom. "Carlos, are you going to my doctor appointment with me today? Or are you going over to see Trey while I'm gone?"

"Babe, I thought I'd go with you, and then we could go over to see Trey afterwards."

I pulled her into my arms and kissed her eagerly, while pushing her gently against the wall. "Steph, I can't wait to make love to you. Do you realize how long it's been since we've been together?"

Stephanie pulled back from me as I nuzzled into her neck. "As a matter of fact, I do Batman. It was about a three weeks before Trey was born. So that's about 9 weeks. Have you missed me?"

"Christ Babe! You have no idea! Let's go so that we can get the all clear from your doctor."

I took her hand in mine and lead her out to the Porsche Cayenne. We motored over to Dr. O'Riley's office and I signed us in as Stephanie took a seat in the waiting room. After a few minutes we were called back, and the nurse took Steph's weight, temperature, and blood pressure.

"Mrs. Manoso, your blood pressure has stabilized. That's excellent news. How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing well. I'm tired, but otherwise great. I stay busy going back and forth to the NICU to see Trey, so sleep isn't a huge priority right now. I'm sure it'll become even less so when we get to take him home with us."

The nurse smiled and nodded, and led us to a small room. "Here's a gown for you to change in to. Take everything off including your underwear, and Dr. O'Riley will be with you in a few minutes.

Stephanie took the gown, and glanced up at me. "Carlos, I….well, I…"

"What's wrong Babe?"

"Nothing, it's just that you've never been the gynecologist with me before. It just kinda feels weird."

"Steph, I've seen you give birth to our son. But if you're uncomfortable I can wait in the waiting room. I just want to know that you are healthy. I don't have to be here for the exam if you don't want me to be."

"Carlos, it's not that I don't want you to be here. It's just that, well, could you just sit up near my head? And don't watch the doctor?"

"Sure Babe. Whatever you want."

Stephanie stepped behind the small curtain to change into the gown. I chuckled to myself that here she was standing behind a changing screen and I had seen every inch of her intimately. Only my Babe!

When she was finally changed, she hopped up onto the exam table and I kissed her temple. "Are you sure you don't want me to step out into the hallway? I don't mind Babe."

"No, Carlos. It's ok. I hate doctor visits anyway. It's kinda nice to have the moral support."

I stood with my back to the wall, near the head of the exam table, and stared around the room at the posters on the wall. There were charts with pictures of birth control options, pictures of the female anatomy, and a poster of a baby in a uterus! It was much different than the doctor's offices I was accustomed to. But then, I've never been in a gynecologists office before. Julie was born while I was deployed, and I never got a chance to attend any of the prenatal visits.

Dr. O'Riley knocked on the door and came into the room. He talked to us about how Stephanie was feeling. He asked lots of questions like how breastfeeding was going, did she have any pain or tenderness, how was her moods, if she had resumed her monthly cycle yet, and what birth control we were planning on using.

Stephanie answered all of the questions while I stood silently in the corner. When the subject of birth control came up, she blushed. "Dr. O'Riley, I was on birth control pills when I got pregnant with Trey. Carlos and I haven't really discussed any options at this point."

Dr. O'Riley spoke up. "Tell me Stephanie. Were you on any medication when you got pregnant with Trey? Or possibly shortly before? Besides your birth control pills?"

"Ummm, let's see. I remember Bobby giving me some antibiotics for an ear ache that I had. I don't remember what kind they were."

Dr. O'Riley chuckled. "Who is Bobby? Your physician?"

I spoke up. "Bobby Brown is our company medic. He's a physician assistant and is working on his medical degree. We have a part time physician that works for our company as well, so Bobby is authorized to write prescriptions for our employees. "

"Stephanie, did he tell you that sometimes certain antibiotics can interfere with birth control pills. And that you might need to use a back up method for the remainder of your cycle?"

Stephanie looked up at me. "No, I don't recall him telling me that!"

Dr. O'Riley smiled a big smile. "The pharmacy always puts a label on the container, but unless you read the warnings, you might not have noticed it. I'd say you probably have Bobby to thank for your precious son! But that's not such a bad thing now, is it?"

I chuckled and smiled. "No, Sir, it isn't. We're very blessed and proud of our son, regardless of the circumstances surrounding his conception."

Stephanie smiled and took my hand. "Carlos, we still have to make a decision about birth control. I'd like to decide today."

Dr. O'Riley spoke. "Why don't I give you two a few minutes and I'll go get the supplies I'll need for Stephanie's exam. You can always use condoms, or I can prescribe birth control in the form of pills, a vaginal ring, a diaphragm, an IUD, or a three month shot. I'll be back in a few minutes."

When the doctor left, Stephanie nervously played with the sheet covering her legs. "I guess we should have discussed this before we got here, huh?"

"Babe, it's not a huge decision. I want you to pick whatever works for your body. If you want me to use condoms I will. If you'd rather use one of the options the doctor gave us, then that's fine too. And I know we haven't discussed this, but I'm also open to having more children. I know Trey is very small and we've got a long road ahead with him. But if you want to let nature take its course, well, then that's fine too."

Stephanie seemed surprised. "Carlos, you really would like to have more children? "

"Yea, Babe. I think I would. I know I never really sounded like I wanted kids in the past. Or at least more than Julie. But things changed when you had Trey. And to be honest, I'd love to have another child or two with you. But only when you are ready. Maybe we could pick something today, and then later we can talk about when we'd like to have another child. There's no hurry and we have all the time in the world to decide about more kids."

"Ok. I think for today I'd like to just keep taking what I was taking before. The pills I was on didn't make me sick like others I've taken. And providing I don't take any more antibiotics, I think we'll be fine."

The doctor came back in with a nurse, and we informed him of our decision. It felt good to work as a couple to arrive at a decision, even if it was something as simple as our method of birth control.

The doctor quickly and efficiently completed Stephanie's breast exam. He pressed on her abdomen and asked about pain. He noted that her she could probably stand to include more calories in her diet, since her weight was on the low side for her size. He instructed her to put her legs up in the stirrups, and scoot down to the end of the table. Stephanie blushed furiously, and I found myself having a new found respect for women who have to have physicals each year and those that go through the birth process. It must be hard to feel that exposed to someone that you don't really know.

Dr. O'Riley told Stephanie to relax, and then he inserted this metal thing into her. He told her to take some deep breaths, and he worked quickly underneath the drape across Steph's bottom half. I held her hand and whispered in her ear while he did what he had to do. Stephanie grimaced a couple of times as he worked below, and I kissed her temple while I kept my eyes trained to hers. Finally the doctor was finished and I helped Stephanie sit up. He told her she could get dressed, and that he would meet us in his office in a few minutes. Finally, the doctor left the room.

As she got up to step behind the dressing screen, I pulled her to me. "Stephanie, have I told you how much I love you?"

She kissed me quickly and pulled back. "What brought that on Carlos?"

"It's just that I don't think I've ever really thought about what women have to go through to have a baby. All of the exams. All of the doctor appointments. Even getting a prescription for birth control involves a doctor's visit and a cold metal speculum being crammed into your most private place. I just want you to know that I love you. And I'm so glad that you are the mother of my son. Our son."

"Well, that's good to know. I didn't exactly have the prenatal care that I should have had with Trey, but it's good to know that you appreciate what women go through. And next time, you'll get your chance to accompany me to all of the prenatal visits. Each and every one!"

I kissed her once more and laughed. "I'm looking forward to it Babe!"

Stephanie quickly dressed and we stepped across the hall to the doctor's office. He sat down behind the desk and pulled out Stephanie's chart. "Well, Stephanie, it looks like everything has healed nicely. I don't see any problems, other than I would like for you to work on gaining about ten pounds or so. I know it can be difficult when you are breastfeeding. But you need the extra calories and nutrition to help support not only you but your son. I want you to drink plenty of fluids and try to get an extra 500 to 1000 calories a day while breastfeeding. And I don't mean empty calories either. Concentrate on vegetables and proteins. Fruit's good as well. Here's a prescription for the birth control pills. Since you haven't resumed your monthly cycle yet, you may want to use an alternate form of birth control until you've been on the pills for a week or two. You've got less chance of getting pregnant since you are breastfeeding, but still, you need to be informed. I've included instructions on when to start your pack. Having said that, you can resume your normal activities when ever you feel comfortable. Please call me if you have any problems, questions, or concerns."

We thanked the doctor and made our way out of the office. We stopped by the pharmacy to fill Stephanie's prescription and while we were waiting, Stephanie wandered over to the condom isle. "I think we better get a pack of these to use for the next week or so. Don't you?"

I nodded and took our purchase to the counter and picked up her prescription. After paying, we headed over to the NICU. Trey was having a good day, and we got to bathe him and feed him. We took turns holding him against our chest, in what the nurses called a kangaroo hold. They said that the skin contact is important for premature babies.

After several hours of visiting with our son, we reluctantly went back to the condo. I made a few phone calls to Tank and others while Stephanie heated up a dish that Ella had left for us for dinner.

After we ate, I helped Stephanie clear the dishes and we sat on the couch listening to some soft music play in the background. The condo we were renting was furnished, but Ella had Tank bring some things over that would make it feel more like home. She had included some of Steph's favorite movies and some of my favorite music.

I pulled Stephanie's legs into my lap and began to massage her feet and legs. "Mmmmm that feels nice Carlos. You're relaxing me."

"Babe, it's my pleasure. Are you sure you don't want some more to eat? You know what the doctor said about your weight. You didn't eat very much at dinner."

"I had plenty Carlos. Besides, I was kinda hoping you might be in the mood for dessert. I think I have something you'll like."

I grinned broadly. "Oh really, Babe. What's that?"

"Me!" Stephanie giggled and then blushed slightly as I pulled her into my lap. I swear she gets more beautiful each and every day.

"Babe, there's nothing I'd like more than to make love to my beautiful wife. But if you're not ready…"

Stephanie interrupted me. "I'm ready Carlos. I've been ready. But can we go slow? Just until we see how it's going to …umm…well how it's going to feel?"

"Of course Babe. And if you need more time, or if you're uncomfortable just tell me. And we'll wait. Or we'll try something else."

I stood up and pulled her to me and picked her up bridal style. "You know, I never got the chance to carry you over the threshold when we got married." She giggled and nuzzled into my chest. I carried her to our bedroom and gently placed her on the bed. I slowly removed her socks and her jeans, and kissed my way up her legs while massaging them to relax her.

"Oh God Carlos, that feels wonderful. You're going to make me a lump of jello by the time you finish!"

"Just relax Babe, and let me love you. Let me take care of you."

I pulled myself up beside her and unbuttoned her shirt. I gently slipped it down from her shoulders and let it fall into the heap of clothes quickly gathering on the floor. I kneaded her shoulders and kissed wet, open mouth kisses across her collar bone and down her arms, making her shiver with chills as I scraped my teeth across her soft delicate skin. Her moans only served to spur me on and I found it hard to control my desire to ravish her body. _Dios_! It had really been too long! I kissed her, gently at first, but quickly our tongues found each other and danced in a familiar rhythm that we both had missed for far too long. We kissed and petted like starving teenagers who were hungry and desperate for each other; desperate for that first taste of sexual bliss.

I pulled her to me, and went to remove her bra when she gently touched my hands. "Carlos, what about….well…my breasts are full. They might leak."

I pulled her to me lovingly. "Babe it's nothing to be uncomfortable with. You can leave your bra on if you'd like. But I love how you are able to nurture our son with your breasts. It's beautiful to me. You're beautiful. You don't have to be uncomfortable because of it. Let me love you. Let me worship you tonight."

She smiled and nodded her consent, and kissed me deeply. I removed her bra, and panties, and tossed them to the floor. Her hands found their way to the hem of my shirt, and she quickly pulled it over my head. Our hands were feverish and it seemed as if we couldn't get enough of each other.

She nipped my chest gently with her teeth and kissed her way up my neck. "Carlos, you're wearing too many clothes. Strip. Now!"

I laughed softly and pulled my pants off as her hands found their way to my hard erection. She tugged gently on my balls, and stroked me with her other hand. Drops of precum had gathered on the head, and she bent and licked me from tip to base. All of a sudden, she took me deeply into her mouth and I hissed loudly. "Christ Stephanie! I can't take much more! You don't know what you do to me!"

She chuckled softly, and the vibrations make me twitch in anticipation. She continued to lick and nip me in wonderful ways, until I could hardly hold back. Finally, I flipped her onto her back gently, and kissed my way from her ear to her neck, stopping briefly to pay homage to her beautiful lips. I worked my way down to her breasts and licked and nuzzled each one. Her breasts were heavy from motherhood, and I looked up at her before taking one into my mouth. She must have understood my silent question, and nodded her consent. I gently took her right nipple into my mouth, and sucked on it slightly. Sweet milk flowed into my mouth, and I groaned in ectasy! I'd never experienced anything like it before. How could something so necessary for the basics of life affect me in such a primal way? Stephanie was encouraged by my groans and raised her hand to feel of her other beast, and tweak her left nipple. I kissed my way from her right breast to the left, and pulled it into my mouth as well, swirling her tender nipple into my mouth and flicking it with my tongue. Like it's twin, it filled my mouth with sweet milk when I sucked several times on it. I nuzzled into her further, pulling her nipple a little harder, as my hands explored her stomach, hips and mound. I finally worked my way down her body with hot kisses, and settled myself between her legs.

"Babe, you don't know how much you turn me on. You have no idea what your body does to me."

I teased her lips with kisses, and flicked my tongue over her clit as my fingers made gentle circles around her enlarged nub. I worked slowly and gently, nipping and tasting all that she had to offer. I knew that Stephanie might need a little more time to get ready for our love making, so I paid extra attention to all of the erotic spots on her body. I nipped the valley between her thighs and mound, and kissed my way down to the special place behind her knees. As I traveled back up her body, I stopped once more and licked her clit, attacking it gently until she began to gasp and moan.

"Carlos…don't stop. Please! Don't….stop…God!"

I gently inserted one finger, and then another, and gently stroked her g-spot as she came apart, screaming my name. I held her as she rode the waves down, and pulled her to me, attacking her mouth with a fervor I had never known. We had made love many times in the past, but tonight was different. Tonight I was making love to my wife. She could taste herself on me, and as I kissed her she moaned. "Carlos, that was wonderful. I need you. Please. I need you now."

I settled myself between her legs as she raised her hips to me in silent offering. I took my hard shaft and gently ran it over the lips of her sex, wetting it with the moisture that had gathered there. I slowly pushed the crown in, watching Stephanie for any indication that she was uncomfortable. She nodded and I continued until I was buried in her. I stilled, giving her time to stretch to accommodate me, and giving me time to gather my control. "Babe, are you ok? Does it hurt?"

"No Carlos, I'm fine. I need you. Please. I need to feel you inside me, claiming me as your wife."

I began to move slowly, in and out. "I love you Stephanie Manoso. I love you more than life. I love you so much it hurts."

"Carlos, I love you! Never doubt that."

We made slow, tender love for quite a while, and when we both came together, it was like a quiet whisper falling over both of us at the same time. There was a specialness to it that I'd never experienced before. Our love was unified, and our marriage was consummated. It was as if our souls became one. Surely the earth shifted, and time stood still.

Afterwards, as we lay together, we still couldn't get enough of each other. It was as if we had to have contact with each other at all times. Stephanie turned to kiss me deeply. "Did you feel it Carlos? Was it different for you? It was somehow…I don't know…"

"Yes Babe. It was magical. There are no words to describe it. I've never experienced anything like it. _Dios_! How I love you. I'm so thankful that you agreed to marry me. I'm honored that you're my wife."

Our kisses turned passionate and I pulled her to me yet again, and began to show her over and over exactly how much I loved my new wife.


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you all so much for the positive reviews. I hope you're enjoying the story so far!

None of the characters are my creation (except for Trey) and am just taking them out for a joy ride. Thanks to Janet Evanovich for creating such loveable characters.

_Previously:_

_We made slow, tender love for quite a while, and when we both came together, it was like a quiet whisper falling over both of us at the same time. There was a specialness to it that I'd never experienced before. Our love was unified, and our marriage was consummated. It was as if our souls became one. Surely the earth shifted, and time stood still._

_Afterwards, as we lay together, we still couldn't get enough of each other. It was as if we had to have contact with each other at all times. Stephanie turned to kiss me deeply. "Did you feel it Carlos? Was it different for you? It was somehow…I don't know…"_

_"Yes Babe. It was magical. There are no words to describe it. I've never experienced anything like it. __Dios__! How I love you. I'm so thankful that you agreed to marry me. I'm honored that you're my wife."_

_Our kisses turned passionate and I pulled her to me yet again, and began to show her over and over exactly how much I loved my new wife._

/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \

The next morning found us tangled together as the sun started to peek through the windows of our bedroom. I pulled Stephanie to me and kissed her neck and nuzzled her ear. "Good morning Babe. Sleep well?"

"Mmmm. Yes, definitely."

I placed open mouth kisses on her shoulder and collar bone. "It's time to get up. We've got to go check on Trey, and I have to run in to the office today for a bit."

Stephanie nodded, in understanding, and I kissed her once more before making my way to the kitchen to start some coffee as she sleepily staggered into the bathroom. As I was finishing up, I noticed the pharmacy bag from yesterday lying on the table. Stephanie was supposed to start her pills today, but the box of condoms was still in the bag. Unopened. Shit! How could we have gotten so carried away last night? Not just once, but several times. Many, many times!

Ever since I had been with Stephanie, she had always been on the pill. And wearing a condom last night was the last thing on my mind! I guess that just goes to show what she does to me. Before I met her, I'd never even had sex with anyone without a condom. The world is just too risky of a place. Even Julie was conceived using protection. Albeit protection that malfunctioned, but still. Stephanie was the one woman who could always make me lose control.

I ran my fingers through my hair. Okay, let's be reasonable here. What are the odds of her getting pregnant this soon after Trey? And while she's breastfeeding to boot? Slim? Twenty percent? Fifty percent? _Dios_! This is Stephanie we're talking about. Nothing is ever able to be calculated where she is concerned. Not that I wouldn't love to have another child with her. But Trey is still in the hospital and is a preemie. He will still be in the hospital for at least 8 weeks! Stephanie is gonna kill me. My wife is absolutely going to kill me. The mighty Ranger Manoso will be dealt his final blow by a skinny white girl from the Burg.

I heard the shower start, so I waited a few minutes and then took the box into the bathroom with me. "Um…Steph?"

"Ranger, if you join me in the shower, we'll never get out of here in time for me to feed Trey this morning. And my boobs are about to explode! I didn't get to pump last night."

"Babe, as much as I'd love a repeat performance of last night, I just realized something."

Stephanie was silent for a beat, and then opened the shower door. "What are you talking about Carlos?"

I held up the unopened box of 36 condoms. "I think we forgot a little something last night."

Stephanie's mouth dropped open. "Oh! Well. Uh…"

"Yea, that was my thoughts exactly."

Stephanie turned the water off in the shower and I handed her a towel. She stood there, looking from me to the box I held in my hand.

"Steph, I didn't think anything about it. I guess I was just so eager to finally be able to make love to you that I didn't even think about protection. We've never used it before since you were always on the pill, and it was the last thing on my mind. I'm sorry Babe. I should have taken care of it before…well, before things got out of hand."

Stephanie had wrapped the towel around her by this time and her skin was still damp from the shower. Her face was clean from makeup and her blue eyes were wide and intense. She took the box from my hand and sat it on the bathroom counter, and then pulled me to her. "Carlos, I was just as caught up in the emotion, love, and intensity of last night as you were, so it wasn't your responsibility alone. Besides, it's not like we're teenagers sneaking around. We're married after all! Also, the possibility of me getting pregnant is probably very slim considering I haven't resumed my cycle yet and I'm breastfeeding. I'll call the doctor later on today to see if I need to hold off on starting the birth control pills until we know for sure. But if, _and that's a really big if,_ if we did make a baby last night, I refuse to think of it as a mistake. Trey wasn't planned either. And look how much we both love him. If I am, then at least we know now, and it won't be like it was with Trey. We were really lucky that he was as healthy as he was, considering I had no prenatal care and he was born so early."

I pulled Stephanie to me and kissed her with all of the love I was feeling inside. "And this is one of the many reasons I love you, Steph. When life hands you unexpected things, you simply roll with the punches and keep going. I didn't mean to insinuate that another baby would be a mistake. I'd love to have lots of babies with you! But I know that yesterday, in the doctors office, you said you weren't ready yet to leave things up to chance."

"Well, Carlos, I'm not ecstatic about the possibility of having two children that are less than a year old. Can you imagine all the diapers? And having two kids that can't walk? But I guess we'd learn to handle it if we had to."

"Babe, if that happens, we could always hire some help."

"Oh no, Mr. Manoso. I refuse to let my kids be raised by someone else."

I chuckled and hugged her to me. "Babe, I just meant someone to help out during the day. You and I are going to be raising any children we have. And I'm looking forward to it. Very much in fact. I feel like we missed out on a lot with your last pregnancy since we didn't even know you were pregnant. You were training with me, and going out on distractions and take downs. If you are pregnant, things will be very different this time."

"Carlos, I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it. In all likelihood, I'm not pregnant. So let's get dressed and go see Trey, okay?"

"Sounds good to me Babe." I kissed her once more and swatted her on her butt as I walked out of the bathroom to gather my clothes for a shower.

As I was walking into the closet, my cell phone rang. I found my cell lying on the bedside table where I had placed it last night. I didn't recognize the number.

"Manoso speaking."

"Mr. Manoso? This is Brittany from Newark NICU. I was wondering if you and your wife could come to the NICU as soon as possible. Trey has developed a fever."

"How high is the fever ? When did this happen?"

"His temp was 103 the last time I checked it, which was about 10 minutes ago. We first noticed it about two hours ago. I alerted his doctor, and he's gone for some tests right now. It's still too early to know for sure what's going on. One of your employees is staying in the room with him until you arrive. I think his name is Bobby. He was the one on duty last night. At any rate, he suggested I call you, even though it may be nothing. Some babies run a temperature as they battle off various colds and viruses. But the fact that Trey is premature, and only 6 weeks old, well…it could quickly turn into something more serious. We thought you would want to know."

"We'll be there in 15 minutes."

By this time Stephanie had threw some clothes on and was standing beside me. I could see fear in her eyes as she waited for me to tell her what was going on."

"Get your things together, Babe. Trey's developed a fever. We've got to get to the hospital."

Stephanie grabbed a sweater and her purse as we quickly made our way out to the Cayenne. I dialed Bobby as we sped out of the parking lot.

"Brown."

"Bobby, what's going on? How is Trey?"

"We've just made our way back up to the NICU floor, Ranger. He's ok right now, but he's running a temp of 103. They've done some x-rays and think he may have pneumonia. It's possible that he aspirated on some of his milk. Or it could just be because he has a weakened immune system and has caught a bug. They're starting antibiotics on him now, and have put him in a private suite until they figure out exactly what's going on."

"Stay with him Bobby. We'll be there soon."

"Got it Boss."

Stephanie was gripping my hand like it was a lifeline. "What did he say Carlos?"

"He's with Trey right now. They've put him in a private room due to the fever. And they started antibiotics in case it's pneumonia."

"How high is his fever?"

"103."

Stephanie gasped. "He's too little. This can't be happening. What if something happens? He's still so young…it can't…I…."

I pulled her hand to my lips and kissed her fingers. "Babe, calm down. Right now we don't know anything more than what Brown and the nurse has told us. Let's wait to speak with the doctor. Trey has already proven that he's a fighter, and we can't let ourselves start doubting that now. He'll be fine."

Silent tears were escaping Steph's eyes, and she turned to look out the window of the car. I was trying to be strong for her, but inside I was scared to death. Julie had always been very healthy, and rarely even caught the common cold. Once, when she had chicken pox, I flew down to Miami just to check on her. But overall, she had always been very healthy. Having a sick child was something new and very foreign to me. And I didn't like it one bit. I felt helpless. I was not used to feeling helpless.

We finally arrived at the hospital and ran to the elevators for the NICU. We quickly found Brittany and she led us to the room where Trey and Bobby were. Stephanie and I immediately went to Trey and we each took one of his small hands. His color was flushed, but he was sleeping. The feeding tube, which had been removed a few days ago, had been replaced and he was hooked up to more tubes than he was last night. Trey had been on oxygen to keep his sats up since being weaned off of the ventilator, but now he had a mask on instead of the thin cannula that he had graduated to in the days prior.

Bobby reiterated what he had told me on the phone for Stephanie's sake, and shortly after he finished Trey's pediatrician, Dr. Cooper, came into the room.

"Carlos, Stephanie …" he began. "It looks like Trey has developed pneumonia. Sometimes this happens with premature babies. We've started him on antibiotics, and in all likelihood we've caught it early enough that there will be no long term damage. I'd like to keep him in a private suite since his immune system is compromised further. Just in case one of the other babies in the NICU were to be sick as well. We'll keep him on a face mask for oxygen, just so he doesn't have to work quite as hard to get the oxygen that he needs. I know he recently was taken off of the feeding tube since he was doing so well, and was allowed to nurse."

Stephanie and I both nodded. "We placed the feeding tube back down his nose as a precaution, but also to allow him to store some energy. It takes energy for him to suckle and eat. If he's not having to do that as much, then that's more energy that his body can use to heal itself. Steph, I'd like for you to keep pumping breast milk for him since that has lots of immunity building properties to it. We'll continue using it in his feeding tube, and as he gets stronger, we'll try nursing again."

"I'll have some chairs brought in for both of you so that you can stay here in the suite with him as much as you'd like. Since he's not in the NICU ward, you can visit as much as you like, and can even stay overnight if you want to. Do you have any questions for me?"

I looked at Stephanie, who seemed as overwhelmed as I was feeling. "No, Dr. Cooper. Not right now. Thank you for checking on him and please let us know if there's anything else we need to be doing. We'll both be staying with Trey until he's better."

"You're welcome Carlos. Also, one other thing. Anyone who visits will need to scrub in and wear a gown to protect Trey. I'm going to place him on isolation precautions just to hopefully prevent him from picking up any other bug while his immune system is fighting the pneumonia."

"I understand. Thank you."

Dr. Cooper left Stephanie, Bobby, and I stand guard over Trey. Within a few minutes, two rolling recliners were brought to the room by orderlies, and I helped Stephanie sit in one. Brittany brought the familiar gowns into the room for us to put on so that we could hold Trey, and we both scrubbed our hands and arms at the sink over in the corner of the room.

Finally, when we had finished, Brittany picked Trey up from his isolette and handed him over to Stephanie. "I know it's hard not to worry, but a lot of preemie babies catch pneumonia. Just think of it as a bump in the road. It's a minor setback, but with any luck, he'll be better in no time. Luckily, the pneumonia that Trey has is only in one of his lungs, and not both. Since he spiked a fever first thing, we caught it a little earlier than we might have otherwise. So really, the fever was a good thing. It means his body is trying to fight off the infection. Would you like me to bring in a pump for you to use, Steph?"

Stephanie smiled a slight smile and nodded. "Yes if you don't mind. I haven't pumped since last night, and I'm more than a little uncomfortable."

"Sure thing. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Since Trey was in a private room, Stephanie and I decided that we were going to stay at the hospital until Trey improved. Stephanie sat rocking Trey, and I sent Bobby over to the condo to pick up some things for us. I went out in the hall to make a phone call to Tank to let him know I wouldn't be in the office today.

"Yo."

"Tank, it's me. Something's come up and I won't be to Rangeman today. Can you send someone over with the contracts for me to sign that have to be done today?"

"Sure Ranger. What's up? Something wrong?"

"Trey spiked a fever and we just found out that he has pneumonia. I don't want to leave him or Steph. I need to be here."

"Of course. I'll bring the contracts over myself after lunch. I haven't gotten to see Little Man in a few days. Anything else I need to bring?"

"Steph's looking a little scared. Maybe have Ella send her some cake. The doctor wants her to gain some weight. It'd be nice surprise for her."

"Got it. I'll see you in a few hours."

I rejoined my wife and son, and stroked his hair as Stephanie held him. His skin was warm, but he was sleeping peacefully.

"Carlos, I'm so scared. Does it ever gets easier? Being a parent? I know he'll have lots of fevers, and boo boo's in his lifetime. But I just want to protect him from everything that I can, you know?"

"I know exactly what you mean Babe. I was thinking earlier how lucky we've been so far. Hopefully, like Brittany said, this is just a small bump in the road. He'll do fine. Julie's always been very healthy, so this is unchartered territory for me too."

Brittany brought in the breast pump, and pulled the privacy curtain before she closed the door, saying that she placed a "please knock before entering" sign on the door for us. "Carlos, can you hold him while I pump?"

"Sure Babe." I picked my son up, taking care not to awaken him, and sat in one of the recliners while Stephanie sat in the other one. Steph adjusted her top, and attached the pump to her full breast. She winced as the pump began to work. "Are you okay Babe?"

"Yeah, I just wish I had pumped last night. They've never been this full before, and it's a little painful."

We sat there in silence, me rocking Trey and Steph finding relief from her overly full breasts. I have to admit that I felt a little better being here and holding my son in my arms. While I couldn't do anything to help him fight the pneumonia, I could hold him and comfort him. I think that maybe he's comforting me more than I am him, but still…it made me feel better regardless.

After Steph finished, Brittany came back to label the bottles for Trey and place them in the refrigerator in the nursery. Stephanie wanted to hold Trey, so we switched places and by that time, Bobby was knocking at the door. He brought our overnight bags in from the condo and then left to go back to Haywood.

Tank arrived around noon, and walked in wearing the mandatory yellow gown and scrubbed in as if he'd done it a thousand times. Truth is, he probably has. When we set up the guard rotation for Trey, Tank wasn't included in the schedule since he's running Rangeman while I'm away. But after a few days, I realized that he was often coming by to see Trey while using the excuse of "checking in with the men". Tank will be an excellent godfather for my son, and Steph and I had discussed asking him just last night.

Tank hugged Stephanie and handed her a container with cake from Ella, along with a couple of fluffy, nice blankets for us to use while we were in the private room. The hospital had plenty of blankets we could use, but Tank said that Ella thought it might make Stephanie more comfortable. Tank brought contracts for me to sign. Stephanie gets cake and fluffy blankets; I get work. Where's the irony in that? But seriously, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so glad that Steph has made her way into my men's hearts. There's nothing that any of them wouldn't do for her or my son. It's nice to have that kind of support system, especially in times like this.

"Boss, have you called your family or Steph's to tell them about Trey?"

"No not yet. If we call them, they'll all want to come and see him. And right now, it's probably not a good idea since he's on isolation precautions. The doctor and nurses warned us that his immune system is compromised with him being a preemie, as well as having pneumonia. So while I know they'd want to be here, it's probably not what's best for Trey. Steph and I will be staying as much as possible while he's sick, and you can suspend the guard rotation unless I call you. If I have to come in to the office, I'll need someone to come and stay with Steph until I return. But otherwise, I'll be here so there's no need for additional security."

"Sure thing. Do you guys need anything before I go?

Stephanie spoke up. "Tank, would you like to hold Trey before you leave?"

"Bomber, do you think it's ok? I mean, with him sick?"

"I don't see why not. You're wearing a gown and scrubbed in. Besides, Carlos and I have a question we'd like to ask you."

Tank took Trey from Stephanie and sat in the recliner by the isolette. Trey looked even smaller in Tank's giant hands. You would have thought that Tank was holding the worlds most fragile crystal from the care he was taking with Trey. Stephanie looked at me and smiled while she nodded.

"Tank, Stephanie and I were talking last night, and we'd like it if you'd consider being Trey's godfather."

Tank is a man of very few words, but I have rarely witnessed him shocked. He's usually a man who hides his emotions well, and his blank face can only be rivaled by me. But now, the look of joy that flooded his face might as well have been an open book. "Are you guys serious?"

"Of course Tank. Who else would we trust to take care of Trey if we couldn't. We both know that you love him as much as we do. And we plan on asking Lula to be Trey's godmother, if you think she would do it," Stephanie added.

"Of course she will. And yes, I…well, I'm honored. Really guys. I promise to watch over him as if he were my own."

"Well, that's settled then," Stephanie proclaimed.

Trey chose that moment to grunt and start to fuss. Step took him from Tank and cuddled him into his baby blanket, and began to rock him in the rocking chair. He immediately quieted down.

"You know, Bomber. For someone who never really said much about wanting kids, motherhood sure does suit you."

Stephanie giggled. "Well thanks Tank. I have to admit, I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'll love it even more when Little Man here gets to come home and is all better."

"Before you both know it, you'll be back at Rangeman and this little guy will be keeping us all in line. Speaking of Rangeman, I better get back to the office. I'll finish processing those contracts Ranger, and if you guys need anything let me know. Do you want me to call your parents and give them the 411? I can let them know the basics, and tell them that right now visitors aren't 'encouraged' ".

"That'd be nice, Tank." I replied.

As Tank left, I chuckled to myself as I thought of how talkative he was around Trey and Steph. And he was smiling! But then, I suppose I'd been doing my fair share of smiling lately as well. Life was good. Who would have thought that a tiny infant could bring such joy to a bunch of gruff Army men?


	14. Chapter 14

Thank you all so much for the positive reviews. I hope you're enjoying the story so far!

None of the characters are my creation (except for Trey) and am just taking them out for a joy ride. Thanks to Janet Evanovich for creating such loveable characters

_Previously:_

_"You know, Bomber. For someone who never really said much about wanting kids, motherhood sure does suit you."_

_Stephanie giggled. "Well thanks Tank. I have to admit, I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'll love it even more when Little Man here gets to come home and is all better."_

_"Before you both know it, you'll be back at Rangeman and this little guy will be keeping us all in line. Speaking of Rangeman, I better get back to the office. I'll finish processing those contracts Ranger, and if you guys need anything let me know. Do you want me to call your parents and give them the 411? I can let them know the basics, and tell them that right now visitors aren't 'encouraged' "._

_"That'd be nice, Tank." I replied._

_As Tank left, I chuckled to myself as I thought of how talkative he was around Trey and Steph. And he was smiling! But then, I suppose I'd been doing my fair share of smiling lately as well. Life was good. Who would have thought that a tiny infant could bring such joy to a bunch of gruff Army men?_

/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \

Days have passed by and Trey is steadily improving. His fever is staying down ,and his color is looking much better. Stephanie and I have practically set up camp in the small room that Trey is in, and despite my attempts to get Stephanie to get out for a while, she won't budge. When I have to go to Trenton, I always get Bobby or Lester come into town to stay with Steph. I have to admit that while I want to spend every waking minute with Trey, making sure he is improving and getting the care he needs, the occasional trips are a nice respite and make me feel like a bird out of a cage. I can only imagine what Steph must feel like. Stephanie hasn't left the hospital since the day they called us about Trey running a fever. I mentally count back to that phone call. It's been 24 days.

The feeding tube has been removed, and Stephanie is able to nurse Trey again. I think that has done wonders for her, since she missed the bonding that she was able to do when he nursed. And while Trey is steadily gaining weight, I've noticed that Stephanie is looking pale and tired, and she's continuing to lose weight. At first I didn't think it was that noticeable. But then Ella and my mother came by for a visit yesterday, after not having seen Steph for a few weeks. Both of them pulled me aside and commented on how thin she was looking. I decided then that I had to do something. I made a few phone calls, and decided to put my plan into action.

"Babe, when Trey finishes nursing, I have a surprise for you."

"Really Batman? What is it?"

"I can't tell you. It's a surprise."

"Can you give me a hint?"

"Nope."

Just then, part of the surprise knocked on the door. Stephanie pulled a baby blanket over Trey and her exposed breast, and I went to open the door. Bobby, Helen and Ms. Mazur walked in, much to Stephanie's surprise. "Mom, Grandma! You didn't call and tell us you were coming. What are you doing here?"

"Are you not happy to see us?"

"Of course I am! I'm just surprised!"

"Babe, this is part of your surprise."

"What's going on Carlos?"

"Well, for starters, you haven't left this room or Trey's side for over 24 days. And you're running yourself down. Trey needs both of us strong so that when he comes home, we can do all that we need to do for him. You're not eating well, and you can't tell me you are resting well because I know that I certainly haven't in these recliners here in the room. Bobby will be staying guard and your mom and grandmother have offered to stay with Trey while you get out for a bit. We're going out to dinner, and then we're going to go back to the condo and rest for the evening and stay all night so that you can get some sleep. Tonight, Lester will relieve Bobby and my mother is coming to stay with Trey tonight."

"But Carlos, I can't go. I have to feed Trey."

"I've already checked with the nurses. There's more than enough milk in the refrigerator in the nursery that you've stored."

"Stephanie, let Carlos take care of you tonight. You need a break. Trey will be fine. Besides, I haven't gotten to see nearly enough of him. You've got that fine bounty hunter with the package all to yourself tonight. Go enjoy the time away!"

I found myself backing up to the wall, in case Grandma Mazur's hands decided to wonder. But luckily she had her attention focused on Trey. Thank Heavens for small favors!

Stephanie still looked undecided, but once she finished nursing, she handed Trey off to Helen. "Mom, if anything happens, you promise you'll call me? We're only 10 minutes away."

"Stephanie, for Pete's sake! I've raised two children of my own. I think I can handle it. But I promise if anything changes, I'll call you immediately."

I finally pulled Stephanie from the room, and hustled her into the car down in the parking garage. As I pulled out into traffic, she was already twisting her hands and starting to worry. "Stephanie, if you spend the entire evening worrying you're not going to enjoy it. Please try to relax Babe. You deserve a night off. You're wearing yourself thin."

"I know Carlos. I guess I'm just worried about leaving him. He's just now starting to get better, and I'm so afraid something will happen."

"Babe, Trey is doing really well. Besides, I have more good news for you. I spoke with Dr. Cooper today while you were with Trey, and he seems to think that if he continues to do well, he might get to come home around the time that he would have normally been born. So that means in about 7 more weeks, we just might be bringing our son home."

"Really?"

"Yep. I know it sounds like a long time, but if you think about it, we've already been here about that long. And at least it gives us some kind of timeline."

Stephanie nodded and I took her hand in mine. I drove to the condo and we dressed for dinner, and then left for our reservations at a small Cuban restaurant that I had heard about. It was really nice to escape the hospital and have her to myself, even if we focused most of our conversation on Trey. After dinner, we made our way back to the condo and Stephanie changed into my black boxers and one of my t-shirts. I also changed and put on black boxers minus the shirt. We cuddled on the couch, while the television played for background noise. It was nice to just hold her and talk about how things were going. I told her about some things I'd found out while I was in Trenton this week, and she told me about Trey pooping on a nurse while I was gone. I guess I need to have a talk with my son and tell him that pooping on pretty nurses is not the way to become a ladies man. I finally decided to broach the subject that we both have seemed to avoid for the past 24 days.

"Babe, I know we haven't discussed it further, but while I was out yesterday I picked up a pregnancy test for you. I thought you might want to take it tonight, since we're alone."

Stephanie nervously glanced down at her lap. "I know you're probably right. Denial won't work forever. I have to admit I've just about driven myself crazy worrying over it. I still haven't started and Trey was born almost 10 weeks ago."

"Well, let's quit worrying. We won't know until you take the test. So why don't you go do that now. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No thanks buster. I think I can pee by myself thank-you-very-much!"

"Babe, that's silly. I've watched you give birth and you won't let me come in the bathroom while you test?"

"I'll come out after I pee on the stick and we can wait together, but no, you can't come with me. I don't care how much of me you've seen."

I laughed and helped Stephanie up from the couch. I retrieved the test from the pharmacy bag in our bedroom, where'd I'd left it earlier. Stephanie took the test into the bathroom, and came out a few minutes later with the test in hand.

"Well, now we wait three minutes."

I looked at my watch, and pulled her into my lap. "Relax Babe. You're as tense as a coiled spring."

"I know Carlos. I'm just worried that if we have another baby right away, Trey will eventually feel like he didn't get enough of our time. I don't want him to resent us in any way. And I had planned on going back to work when Trey is home and well enough. Well, at least part time."

"Whatever you want to do is fine Babe. You know you don't have to work if you don't want to. But I know it's important to you. Maybe we can juggle our schedules around so that Trey doesn't have to be away from both of us for very long. And Ella has already said that she'd love to help out. And we can get someone part time if you'd like. Not necessarily a nanny, but someone to just come in a few hours each day while we're working."

"You sound like you've put a lot of thought into this Batman."

"I have Babe. I don't want to take away your independence, but I do want to talk to you about one thing. I'm not forcing you to do this, but I'd like to ask you to consider not doing high level FTA's at Vinnie's. Now that we have Trey to think about, I'd like us both to take a little step back from the frontline. I'll still have to go out on some of the higher bond stakeouts, but I promise you that I'll take extra backup and I won't take unnecessary chances."

"Wow, Carlos. I didn't realize you were stepping back from the business so much."

"Babe, I've had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders for years now with the government contracts and building Rangeman. I still plan on being very involved with the company, but now that we have a family, I think that some of the younger guys might want to take my place on some of the more dangerous cases. I can always plan those take downs and be backup. But the days of deliberately putting myself on the front line will be fewer and further between."

"Okay Batman. I've already been thinking about doing less work for Vinnie. I think I'd like to just help Lula and concentrate more on the research that I do for Rangeman. I feel like I have a knack for it, and I'd like to learn more about the clients and contracts that we have. Maybe I can help out with those?"

"Babe, I think that sounds like a wonderful plan." I pulled her to me and kissed her deeply.

"Carlos, I think we can look at the test now. I'm sure it's been at least three minutes."

I picked the test up from the bedside table where we had placed it. Stephanie took my hand in hers as I turned the test over to read the little oval window.


	15. Chapter 15

Thank you all so much for the positive reviews. I hope you're enjoying the story so far!

None of the characters are my creation (except for Trey) and am just taking them out for a joy ride. Thanks to Janet Evanovich for creating such loveable characters

_Previously:  
"Babe, I think that sounds like a wonderful plan." I pulled her to me and kissed her deeply._

_"Carlos, I think we can look at the test now. I'm sure it's been at least three minutes."_

_I picked the test up from the bedside table where we had placed it. Stephanie took my hand in hers as I turned the test over to read the little oval window._

/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \

SPOV

I held my breath as Carlos reached over to the bedside table and picked up the small white stick that held the answers to our immediate question.

It's not that I didn't want to be pregnant. I'd love another child and I'd always wanted to have my children close in age. But everything had just happened so fast with Trey. We never even knew we were pregnant. And now here I am married to the man of my dreams with a newborn in NICU. I've tried so hard to roll with the punches, but I'm so new to this mom thing. And I don't feel like I've done a very good job of being a good wife since Trey's been born. So much of our attention has been focused on him, that I haven't really been able to focus on my husband.

"Wait Carlos!" I grabbed the test from his hands before he could read it.

"What's wrong Babe? Why'd you stop me?"

"Well, it's just that…well, I was just thinking that I don't want you to think that I don't want to be pregnant. I do. I mean, well, I do want us to have more children. And if we are pregnant I will be very happy about it. I know the timing may leave a bit to be desired, but my fears are coming from the fact that you and I have had a lot of changes in the past 2 months. We have a new baby, and a new marriage. And I just am scared that I'm not being the type of wife you deserve. I know our first few weeks as husband and wife haven't exactly been a honeymoon."

"Stephanie, how could you ever think that? You are the love of my life and I am honored to be your husband. Our life isn't typical, so you don't have to compare our lives to the lives of others who fit a traditional mold. And you, my dear, are everything I could ever hope or dream for. We will most definitely have a honeymoon, later, when everything settles down. But for now, if you are pregnant, we'll just incorporate that into our everyday lives like we have everything else. But regardless, I'm going to be right there with you, through whatever life brings our way. You're not alone in this Stephanie. We're a team and we do this together. And if you're not, then you're not. No worries. No expectations. Now, would you like to read the test? Or would you like me to?"

"You can. I'm too nervous."

Carlos turned the test over and a huge smile crossed his lips. Babe, we're having a baby!"

"You're kidding?"

"I wouldn't kid about something like this. Have I ever lied to you?" Carlos turned the test strip so that I could see the small window, and there in small letters, was the word 'pregnant'. He pulled me into his arms and held on to me, rubbing my back and running his fingers through my hair.

"Steph, are you happy? Be honest with me."

"Yes Carlos. I'm happy. I'm having your baby! Our baby. We're having a baby. Another baby!"

Carlos slid to his knees on the floor and put his hands to my stomach as I sat on the side of the bed. "Hola Bebe." I could feel the tears forming in my eyes as I witnessed Carlos already showing such love and devotion to our child. And I was only a few weeks along! I had been witness to the love that he showed to Trey, but since my pregnancy was a surprise, neither of us were able to enjoy the pregnancy. I smiled as I thought about how different this pregnancy would be.

Carlos pulled me into a kiss as he held me. "Babe, you have made me the happiest man in the world. We seem to be pretty good at making babies, huh?"

"I think you've got some powerful bat sperm there Batman!"

"Babe."

"Seriously, Carlos. How many other people do you know that had a baby one-without knowing they were pregnant; two- had a baby without gaining weight; and three-got pregnant the first night they had sex after about two and a half months without sex at all?"

"Babe, we didn't have sex. We made love. Splendid, glorious love. And I plan on a repeat performance tonight, if you're up to it."

"Damn skippy!"

"And while you're pregnant, Babe, there will be no chance of you falling out of a second story window while you are pregnant with our child. No bringing in FTA's while you're pregnant. We were really lucky last time. You could have been really hurt, or worse. And you've already lost too much weight. You're not eating enough with taking care of Trey. You're going to have to get more rest than you're getting."

"I know you're right. But hopefully we'll be able to take Trey home soon, so that will help. I had already thought that if I was pregnant, there is no way I'm going to go out skip tracing this time. I do plan on working in the office though. Got that Mister?"

Carlos kissed me again. "Whatever you want, Steph. I just want you healthy and our babies healthy. Everything else is just extra. But remember, you don't have to work if you don't want to."

"Yeah yeah. So you keep telling me. And I told you that I don't want to be an obligation. I want to stand on my own two feet."

"Babe, you could never be an obligation. You're my wife and this is our family. It's ok to stand on your own two feet, but you need to realize that I'm here to help you when you need a shoulder to lean on. We're in this marriage together- got that? You're a strong woman, Steph, but you don't have anything to prove to me. And you don't have to be strong all the time. Let me be strong for you sometimes. Let me love you. Let me take care of you, not because you need me to, but because I need for you to let me occasionally."

I kissed him and pulled him to me. "Carlos, I love you. I love you so much it scares me sometimes. If anything were to ever happen to you- God I don't know what I'd do." I pushed him down on the bed and ran my fingers over his hard chest. I began to unbutton his dress shirt, and pulled it from the waist of his pants. "Make love to me, Carlos. Please."

"As you wish Babe. Anything for you."

Carlos pulled me to him in a deep kiss, and then flipped us so that I was lying on the bed and he was over me. He started with my forehead and kissed it slowly, reverently. Next, he kissed my eyelids, and my cheeks. Then my lips. He nipped on my bottom lip lightly, and then laved it with his tongue. He followed the trail of my neck down to that delicious place between my neck and my shoulder that turns me to mush every time he comes near it. "Carlos, you know what it does to me when you kiss me there."

"Why do you think I'm doing it Babe?" he answered in a husky voice.

He continued to kiss me and after finally covering every inch of my body with his lips, he settled himself between my thighs. "Stephanie, do you know how happy you make me? I've never known love like this. When I'm with you, I'm home. This, right here where we are together, is home."

And with that thought, he plunged into me, filling me and claiming me. We made love for hours. Tender, slow, passionate love. He would bring me to the edge of the abyss, only to back away and tease me back to the edge again. Finally, after we had both been pulled under the waves of our last orgasm, he pulled me on top of him, and held me tightly.

"Stephanie, I promise to live the rest of my life trying to be worthy of your love. You are my life and my soul. I love you."

"And I love you Carlos."

He was quiet for a moment. And then he smiled. "We're having a baby."

"Carlos, I thought we had already established that."

"We made a baby. From our love and passion. We are having another baby."

"Is it just now hitting you? You're going kinda crazy there, Batman."

"Life doesn't get much better than this, does it Babe?"

I kissed him passionately. "Sure doesn't. When do you want to tell everyone?"

"I thought I'd let you decide that, Babe. It's totally up to you."

"Ideally, I'd like to wait until Trey is home. But I know that's probably not possible. So how about we wait until after I see the doctor for my first visit?"

"You'll call him tomorrow for an appointment?"

"Yes, Carlos. I promise. We'll have to get someone to stay with Trey while I go."

"I'll take care of that. As I said earlier, we're going to get someone to come in more often. You are going to need to rest more, and I don't want to hear any arguments."

"I'm resting now. Doesn't that count?"

"Babe, what we've been doing is certainly not resting, regardless of how you look at it."

I laughed and swatted him with a pillow. "Well, after all that exercise I guess I do need some rest."

He pulled me to him and we spooned together in the bed, holding hands and talking about how good life was, until I finally fell asleep in Carlos' arms.


	16. Chapter 16

None of the characters are my creation (except for Trey) and am just taking them out for a joy ride. Thanks to Janet Evanovich for creating such loveable characters

_Previously:_

_I kissed him passionately. "Sure doesn't. When do you want to tell everyone?"_

_"I thought I'd let you decide that, Babe. It's totally up to you."_

_"Ideally, I'd like to wait until Trey is home. But I know that's probably not possible. So how about we wait until after I see the doctor for my first visit?"_

_"You'll call him tomorrow for an appointment?"_

_"Yes, Carlos. I promise. We'll have to get someone to stay with Trey while I go."_

_"I'll take care of that. As I said earlier, we're going to get someone to come in more often. You are going to need to rest more, and I don't want to hear any arguments."_

_"I'm resting now. Doesn't that count?"_

_"Babe, what we've been doing is certainly not resting, regardless of how you look at it."_

_I laughed and swatted him with a pillow. "Well, after all that exercise I guess I do need some rest."_

_He pulled me to him and we spooned together in the bed, holding hands and talking about how good life was, until I finally fell asleep in Carlos' arms._

/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \

The next morning I woke up to tangled sheets and my legs tangled with my husbands. I let my thoughts slip back to the memories of last night. And I smiled. The sun was starting to shine through the blinds in our bedroom, and I glanced at the clock. It was almost 7am. If we hurried, we could get dressed and get to the hospital before Trey's morning feeding.

Carlos must have been awake, because he pulled me to him and nuzzled my hair. "Morning Babe. "

"Good morning Carlos. How did you sleep?"

"Wonderful."

I giggled and as I did, Carlos pulled me to him and rolled me on top of him. As he did, the room started to spin and nausea slammed into my stomach like a freight train. I immediately pushed him away and rolled to my side.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

I could only utter one word before scrambling to my feet and running to the bathroom. "Sick…"

I fell to my knees at the toilet and threw up until nothing was left by dry heaves. Then I dry heaved several more minutes. All of this was witnessed by my similarly dressed husband while he held my hair back and handed me a warm washcloth. I'm sure we made quite the picture, standing there in the bathroom, both naked, and me bowing to the porcelain god.

"Are you ok, Babe?"

"Ulkk….yea…ulkk…..I think so."

Carlos sat there with me until I thought I was finished. He flushed the toilet, and held me until I calmed down. I was shaky from throwing up, and he rubbed my back while I settled down. "Do you think you could stomach some toast? And maybe some tea?"

"I don't know."

"Stephanie, you have to eat something. And maybe if you put some food on your stomach, you'll feel better. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have moved you so quickly. I know with my sisters, when they were pregnant, they kept dry crackers by the bed, and ate a few before getting up each morning. They said that seemed to help. I wasn't thinking since your last pregnancy was easier."

"Yeah, my last pregnancy was so easy I didn't even know about it until I was almost pushing a baby out. Something tells me that I'm not going to be as lucky with this one."

Carlos chuckled, and kissed me on the forehead. "This one's probably a girl Babe."

"Why do you say that?"

"Think about it. You gained no weight with Trey. You didn't have morning sickness, and we didn't even know about him until he was almost ready to be born."

"What does that prove?"

"Trey was sneaky and stealthy like me. He slipped in under the radar!"

"Oh really, wise ass? And what makes you think this is a girl?"

"Well, she's already causing havoc. She's waking you up, making you sick. Getting us all anxious and crazy. She's already turning our world upside down."

"So that means it's a girl?"

"If she's anything like her mother it does. Just like you turned my world upside down. And it's been better and better every day since."

I smiled at him and hugged him. "Thank you."

"For what Babe?"

"For loving me. For loving us. For holding my hair while I throw up and not saying a word about how disgusting that is first thing in the morning. For sitting here on the bathroom floor naked with me, and letting me be miserable while I sit in your lap. For being you."

"Babe. There's no place I'd rather be. For two people who didn't want kids, and weren't marriage material, we're doing alright. Don't you think?"

"Yea I guess you're right. I feel like I can do anything with you beside me."

"Same here, Babe. Now, let's get you cleaned up and get over to see Trey. Do you feel like going in for the morning feeding? Or do you want to lie back down?"

"No, I want to be there for Trey's morning feeding. I don't want to miss it."

"Ok. I'll go make you some toast while you shower."

True to his word, Carlos made breakfast while I showered. Then I ate while he showered. We were ready a few minutes later, and were quickly back in the car and pulling into the hospital parking garage a few minutes later.

"Do you have to go to Trenton today Carlos? For work?"

"Not today. Tank will be bringing by some more contracts for me to sign. Business seems to be really good lately. But I'm not needed there until later in the week. I was hoping maybe we could get you squeezed into your doctor's appointment today."

"Most of the time there's a few days' wait. But I can call and see."

"Babe, why don't you let me call while you are feeding Trey."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure. Why not? It's just a phone call."

"It's a phone call to an OB/GYN office. It's not like you're making an appointment for a sore throat."

"Babe. It's not like I'm going to the exam for you. Although I will be there for that too. Trust me."

"Ok Batman. You know I do."

"Do you want to use the same doctor for now? Dr. O'Riley? That delivered Trey? I'm sure you can have your records transferred when we go back to Trenton."

"Sure. That sounds fine. It'll work out well too because his office is in the hospital."

We arrived to Trey's room a few minutes later, and found him just waking up. I picked him up and kissed him all over. "Mommy loves you! Yes I do! I missed you so much while I was away. Did you miss Mommy?"

Carlos' mom Maria smiled and stood from the recliner she had been sitting in. "Good morning Stephanie. Did you rest well?"

"Good morning Maria. Yes, Carlos and I both did. It was nice to step outside these four walls for a change. How was Trey during the night?"

"He did really well. He woke up four times. And I fed him each time. The nurses checked on him religiously. And we had a guard all night. So see! There was nothing for you to worry about. Although I understand why you do. I have 4 children myself. I was lucky that none of mine were premature. But still a mother worries. You still worry even when they are grown. "

"So that's what I have to look forward to, huh? A lifetime of worry. Over this little man here." I kissed raspberries on his belly and sat down to nurse him.

"It's all worth it though Stephanie."

"I know Maria. I can't wait for him to get to go home though. At least when he's home it'll be easier."

"I know you are looking forward to that Stephanie. And Carlos is too, I can tell. But you know you have help while you are here. You need to take advantage of it. Please let us start helping you and Carlos more. Your mother and grandmother said they enjoyed staying with him yesterday. And I didn't mind staying at all. All you have to do is ask."

"Thank you Maria. I'm not so good at asking for help. But I promise to try."

Carlos walked in as he was clipping his phone back onto his belt and kissed Trey. "Bebé de la buena mañana. ¿Cómo está mi hijo?" _(*Good morning baby! How is my son?")_

I laughed as Trey kicked at the sound of Carlos' voice. "Carlos, Trey is going to be speaking Spanish soon enough. You are going to have to teach me as well. I can't have my son talking to me without me understanding what he's saying."

Carlos chuckled and leaned in to kiss me as he whispered, "Babe, if you learn Spanish, then you will understand what I'm saying in the bedroom."

Maria glanced over at us knowingly, and I swatted Carlos on his butt. "Stephanie, would you rather I step out while you nurse?"

"No Maria. I'll be fine. I'll just use one of the receiving blankets to cover up with."

Carlos handed me a clean blanket, and I settled in to nurse my son. Trey latched on, and Carlos watched me while he smiled. "Mama, could you stay a little while longer while Stephanie and I go to an appointment? It's here in the hospital, so it shouldn't take too long."

"Certainly hijo. Is everything ok?"

"Yes. Stephanie just has a checkup appointment."

I glanced up at Ranger, and he smiled knowingly. I wondered how he was able to get our appointment so quickly and decided that was a conversation we would be having later. And if he has appointment karma like he does parking karma, then I will be letting him make all of my appointments in the future. Hmmm. I wonder if his appointment karma would work with Mr. Alexander at the hair salon?

Maria looked from Ranger to me. "I thought Stephanie had her checkup weeks ago, no?"

"Yes mama. She did."

"Is everything ok."

"Si mama."

"What are you not telling me?"

"Later mama. Everything is fine. Trust me."

We were rescued by Brittany coming in to check on Trey. She talked about how well Trey was doing, and as I finished up nursing Brittany took him to the nurses' area to weigh him and do his weekly measurements. Lester followed Brittany as she walked out with Trey and Maria settled back in to the recliner.

"What time is your appointment Carlos?"

"In about 15 minutes. We should be going, Steph."

I gathered my purse and promised Maria that we would be back quickly. Carlos took my hand and we headed towards the elevator to go to Dr. O'Riley's office.

"Nervous Babe?"

"A little. You?"

"No, just excited. I've never gotten to go through this part of the baby process. Julie was born while I was in the Army, so I didn't get to go to any prenatal appointments. And of course with Trey, you didn't have any. So we're both new at this."

The elevator opened on the 2nd floor for Dr. O'Riley's office and we stepped off. Carlos signed me in and we took a seat near the corner of the office. After several minutes, my name was called and we were lead down a hallway. After stopping for my weight, they lead me to a small room where a young girl drew several vials of blood. Finally I was asked for a urine sample, and then we were led to an exam room similar to the one I had been in just a few weeks before when I had my 6 month checkup. Dr. O'Riley was waiting on us.

"Stephanie, Carlos! So good to see both of you again. Although I never would have expected to see you this quickly."

She closed the door and we both sat in the chairs in the room. Carlos took my hand. "Well, we didn't exactly plan on being here either, but we're both really happy about it."

"So I'm assuming you're here today because you are pregnant?"

I nodded. "I took a pregnancy test yesterday and it was positive. I still hadn't resumed my cycle, and we got a little carried away and didn't use protection prior to using the pills."

"Have you started the pills Stephanie?"

"No. I had called your office after we realized what happened. The nurse I spoke with suggested I hold off until I knew for sure. Then Trey got sick with pneumonia and we've been at the hospital ever since. Last night was the first time we've left the hospital, and therefore had a chance to test. It was positive."

"Well, home tests rarely are false positives. But we'll do one here in the office to double check. We'll go ahead and do another exam today, and see how far along you are. I have some extra time this morning, so we can squeeze in an ultrasound if you'd like. How far along do you think you are? "

"I'm estimating about 4 to 5 weeks."

Dr. O'Riley nodded. "There may not be much to see on the ultrasound. And it's still too early for the heartbeat. Go ahead and get undressed. Here's a gown, and I'll be back in a few minutes."

Dr. O'Riley left and I undressed. Carlos folded my clothes as I handed them to him, and placed them on the small table in the corner. I hopped up on the table, and Carlos sat beside me, stroking my hand as he held it.

Dr. O'Riley arrived again, this time with my chart and his nurse, who was pushing an ultrasound machine. He commenced to do the normal exam, and Carlos did his best to keep his eyes locked on mine. I could tell that this part made him a little uncomfortable, but he kept his calm face on.

After the exam, the doctor started the ultrasound. "Ok Stephanie. We'll have better clarity and be able to see more with the vaginal probe. You'll feel something cold, as I insert the probe."

I nodded my understanding, and the nurse started keying in information into the keypad of the machine. Dr. O'Riley spoke as he did the ultrasound, and asked about any nausea I had experienced.

"I woke up sick this morning. But besides that I've just been tired. But we've been at the hospital twenty-four-seven for the past month or more. Ever since Trey got sick. He's doing better now."

"Umm hmmm." Dr. O'Riley replied as he worked. He was looking at the screen, and I watched the small monitor as well. His eyebrow lifted, much to my dismay, in the way that Carlos does when he is giving me 'that look'. What is it with all the men I come in contact with? Is it a genetic requirement that to be a man you have to be able to raise one eyebrow?

He continued with the probe, and I grimaced slightly. Carlos, sensing my discomfort, squeezed my hand and whispered "Are you ok amante?"

I nodded. "Just pressure. It's a little uncomfortable."

Dr. O'Riley spoke. "I'm sorry Stephanie. I know it's uncomfortable. But I want to make sure we get the clearest pictures possible and that I am sure of what I'm seeing."

Carlos stood up and spoke. "What do you mean? Is something wrong?"

My heart sped up and caught in my throat. What if I wasn't pregnant and something was wrong. Or what if something was wrong with the little baby bean already? I knew it was very early still, but in the past 24 hours or so since I found out I was pregnant, I had grown very accustomed and fond of the idea of another child.

"No, I didn't mean to alarm you. Just a moment and I will explain."

Carlos stayed standing, with his eyes glued to the monitor. I glanced quickly between him, the monitor, and the doctor. Even the nurse had her blank face on. Drats!

When he was finally finished, and I felt like he had thoroughly assaulted my womb, he allowed me to sit up. He had printed several pictures out, and handed them to Carlos as he pointed to the monitor. "Congratulations. You are indeed pregnant. I estimate that you are about 4 and a half weeks pregnant with twins."

My vision went fuzzy and I swear I heard bells clanging. I must have forgotten to breathe because the next thing I knew, I was lying back down on the table, with Carlos hovering over me, and whispering in my ear "Breathe Babe. Slow deep breaths. In and out. Come on, Steph, breathe for me. Come on open your eyes. Please Babe."

I blinked several times, and the nurse came back in the room with a small cup of juice and some graham crackers. "Here, drink this and nibble on the crackers. It'll help."

Dr. O'Riley was chuckling in the corner. "That's a very popular reaction, Stephanie. You'd be surprised how often this happens."

"Babe, do you think you can sit up now? Are you ok?"

I nodded, still unable to speak. Carlos and the nurse helped me slowly sit up, and I swung my legs over the side of the exam table. Carlos held on to me, and I leaned into him for comfort and support. I still wasn't sure I could assume the upright position all on my own. The nurse handed me the juice and I took a small sip. It did help, and I continued to drink as she handed Carlos the crackers.

"Doctor, could you please… repeat that last part. I'm not …sure I caught it all."

Carlos kissed my temple and spoke instead. "Twins Steph. Two babies. We're having twins."

"That's what I thought he said."

Dr. O'Riley had finished writing in my chart and pulled one of the rollie stools out to sit on. "Stephanie, do you or Carlos have any family history of multiples?"

I shook my head no. Carlos spoke up. "My abulea- my grandmother- was a twin."

I looked at him in astonishment. "I didn't know that. That's important information!"

He laughed slightly. "Babe, would it have changed anything?"

"Well, no. But I would have at least had more information to worry about instead of being shocked into fainting like I did!"

"Exactly. You would have worried yourself sick since the test yesterday. Besides, what are the odds?"

Dr. O'Riley chuckled. "The odds indeed. What are the odds that you two would get pregnant while Stephanie here is breastfeeding with not only one but two babies? Maybe you should go buy a lottery ticket!"

I was still trying to wrap my mind around this new information. "Carlos what are we going to do?"

"Babe we are going to have two babies. And we're going to be buying a lot of diapers!"

"How are we going to handle three babies under one year old?"

"Stephanie, calm down. We'll be fine. If anyone is in a situation to handle it, it's us. We have family and we have Ella. And the guys. And we are in a financial situation to hire someone to help if we need to. The stress isn't good for you or the babies."

"Stephanie, Carlos is right. You had an easy early part of your pregnancy with Trey, but you delivered very early. There's a chance that could happen with twins as well. Even more so. So you are going to have to eat enough to support not only you, but two babies growing inside you. You'll need gentle exercise, lots of rest, and I want you to limit your stress. Limit caffeine and sugars as much as possible. I want to see you weekly considering your previous early delivery and due to the fact that you are carrying twins. Normally we wouldn't schedule weekly visits, but with Trey being born at 26 weeks, I don't want to take any chances. I assume you want to continue to breast feed Trey, so you'll need even more calories. Let me know if the nausea gets too bad, or if you can't keep anything down. You still haven't gained the 10 pounds I recommended you gain, and we may have to give you some meds to get you through the first trimester until the nausea subsides. I have some handouts I'll give you as well about things that help with the nausea. "

He continued. "If you look here on the screen," he pointed, "there are two dark circles. Those are your babies. You can't see much yet, but they're definitely there. It's too early to tell yet whether they are fraternal or identical. You can expect to gain about 40 pounds or so during this pregnancy since it's twins. Do you have any questions for me?"

I shook my head no. Carlos spoke for me. "Doctor, I think at this point Steph is just really surprised. I don't have any questions at this point, but I'm sure we'll have some next week. "

"Sounds good. As always, call me if you have questions. I'll leave you to get dressed. Be sure to make your appointment for next week on your way out. I'll see you then. And Stephanie, relax. You'll adjust soon enough. And Trey is doing really well. I know it's a lot to take in right now."

Carlos helped me get dressed and must have gathered my things because I have no recollection of gathering them myself. I found myself walking out of the office with Carlos holding my purse, my sweater, handouts from the doctor, and next weeks' appointment card.

"Babe, do you need to sit down? I'm starting to worry about you. You haven't said a word. Are you ok?"

His words finally woke me from my stupor and I began to cry silent tears. Carlos found a quiet alcove in the hallway with two chairs nestled in it and sat me down in one. He sat my things down in the second chair and knelt down beside me as he held my face with his hands. "Ssssh…quierda. It's ok. Why the tears? I thought you were happy about the pregnancy."

"The pregnancy yes, Carlos…bbbuuuttt..but…two babies…what will I do?"

"You mean what will _we_ do? You're not in this alone, Steph. And I promise you everything will turn out fine. Whatever comes, we'll get through it together."

"I guess you're right. It's just that I could never have imagined that we'd be parents to three kids in this amount of time. I mean we just got married. It's just a lot to take in. I'm a little overwhelmed."

"Babe, I can tell that you are scared that you are turning into the Burg wife. I promise you that nothing is farther from the truth. You can still return to work at Rangeman if you want. And you can still have a career outside of being a mom. Whatever you want to do…whatever you want to happen…however you want to handle our lives, we'll make it happen."

"You mean you don't expect me to stay home all day with the kids if I don't want to?"

"No Babe. Not at all. We'll raise them together. We'll have help if we need it. We'll shuffle our schedules so that we can take care of them. When we can't be there, someone that we trust will be there."

"And if I want to stay home with them I can? And you won't be mad that I'm not working?"

"Babe, if that's what you want , then by all means, we'll make it happen. You don't have to work if you don't want to. We have enough money that neither one of us have to work for the rest of our lives if we don't want to. It's your choice. But we have lots of time to decide, and nothing has to be decided today. And even when you decide, you can change your mind if you want to."

I took everything he was saying in. It was my choice. He wasn't pressuring me into even making the choice now. I could decide and then change my mind. I could work part time. I could work full time. I could not work at all. He was giving me choices instead of making the decision for me. And it felt very…liberating. All of a sudden things seemed a lot clearer than they had in the exam room. And I realized that I loved the man in front of me even more.

"Carlos, I love you. I love you so much. Thank you. You always know what to say and when to say it. Thank you for giving me choices. I didn't mean to fall apart in there earlier. It was just…overwhelming."

He kissed me gently and rubbed my hands. "I understand Babe. It's ok. How are you feeling now?"

"Better. There's no bells and whistles clanging in my head anymore. And I guess it's starting to set in that we're having two babies."

Carlos smiled his 1000 watt smile at me. "You know my family is going to love this. They all love big families. We don't have to stop at 3."

I gave him an evil look. "Listen, mister! Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Carlos chuckled and pulled me to him in a deep embrace. "I'm kidding Steph. If you want more babies, we'll make them. If you want to stop at three, we'll stop. Again, it's your choice."

I kissed him again and we stood to go back to Trey's room. As we walked hand in hand down the hall I was ready to face my life armed with the knowledge that I was married to the worlds' best husband. He was always there to support me and yet let me make the choices I was most comfortable with. Life couldn't get any better.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were. They all belong to Ms. Evanovich except for the creation of the babies and Trey.

Previously:

_"Carlos, I love you. I love you so much. Thank you. You always know what to say and when to say it. Thank you for giving me choices. I didn't mean to fall apart in there earlier. It was just…overwhelming."_

_He kissed me gently and rubbed my hands. "I understand Babe. It's ok. How are you feeling now?"_

_"Better. There's no bells and whistles clanging in my head anymore. And I guess it's starting to set in that we're having two babies."_

_Carlos smiled his 1000 watt smile at me. "You know my family is going to love this. They all love big families. We don't have to stop at 3."_

_I gave him an evil look. "Listen, mister! Let's not get ahead of ourselves."_

_Carlos chuckled and pulled me to him in a deep embrace. "I'm kidding Steph. If you want more babies, we'll make them. If you want to stop at three, we'll stop. Again, it's your choice."_

_I kissed him again and we stood to go back to Trey's room. As we walked hand in hand down the hall I was ready to face my life armed with the knowledge that I was married to the worlds' best husband. He was always there to support me and yet let me make the choices I was most comfortable with. Life couldn't get any better._

We entered Trey's room to find Maria rocking him gently while Lester was out in the hall on his phone. I overheard him saying something about "they just got back. I'll let him know…" and then I saw him hang up.

Carlos and I walked in and I took Trey from Maria, and thanked her for staying with him.

"Thanks isn't necessary _nina. _I love spending time with my grandchildren."

"Gracias mama. Sorry we took a little longer than planned."

"No problem son. So tell me, when is Stephanie due?" Maria smiled and looked at us knowingly, almost smug. She seemed very sure of herself as she giggled out loud!

Carlos and I looked at each other, and for once, his blank face failed him. I could see the look of surprise on his face from his mother knowing what we had only just found out.

I found my voice first. "Maria…uh…we…how did you know?"

"Easy Estafania! I can tell by the look you have about you. Plus the way Carlos was so attentive to you this morning and when you came back in today. Not that he isn't always, but there's something about the way a man touches his wife…lovingly, almost as if she were fragile. It's a subtle thing. But it shows. And you have the look."

By this time, Carlos had finally found his tongue. "Mama, we wanted to wait to tell everyone until Trey comes home, and the risk of something happening is less."

"I understand Carlito. But tell me, if something were to happen to this child, would you love it any less? Would it hurt any less for people to not know? This child is already a part of your lives. You need even more help with Trey now so that Stephanie can get some rest. Carlos, you have to make sure of it. That's your responsibility. See that she does!"

"I understand mama." Carlos glanced at me, and I nodded hesitantly. "But mama, it's not just one baby. It's two. Two babies, mama. Twins."

"¡Jesús dulce! ¿Embarazado con los gemelos? ¡Una qué bendición! ¡Usted me ha hecho a una mujer muy feliz! ¡Más nietos a amar!_ (Sweet Jesus! Pregnant with twins? What a blessing! You have made me a very happy woman! More grandchildren to love!)_

Of course, Lester chose that moment to walk into the room and his mouth flew open. "Beautiful's pregnant with twins? No way?"

Carlos muttered a quick "¡Oh mi dios! Tanto para guardarlo un secreto." _(Oh my God! So much for keeping it a secret.) _

I couldn't help but laugh. "Maria, I take it you are happy with our news? And yes, Lester, you big blabbermouth! I'm pregnant."

Maria came over to me and gave me a big hug, and Lester did the man "slap-on-the-back" handshake thing. Geez! Men!

"How far along are you, Stephanie?"

"About 4 ½ weeks. It's still very early. That's where we went earlier…down to Dr. O'Riley's office."

"Boss, you didn't waste any time did you?"

"Santos! Shut it!"

"Sorry! I'm just saying…"

"If you weren't my cousin, I swear…."

I figured I'd better go to Lester's rescue. "Lester, we didn't actually plan it. But we're happy about it regardless."

Maria was still smiling. "Babies are a gift from God. Planned or no. It doesn't matter. These children will be surrounded by people who love them!"

Carlos smiled and I giggled nervously. "I'm counting on lots of people being around, because otherwise I have no idea what we're going to do with three children under one year of age. I can't begin to imagine."

Lester seemed to think on that for a moment. "Beautiful, that's right! When the babies are born, Trey will only be …."

Carlos interrupted. "About 10 months old Santos. Now that we've established you can count, who were you on the phone with?"

Lester seemed a little nervous. "Um...Ranger, can I talk to you out in the hall?"

I thought it a bit odd, but decided that I wouldn't worry about it. Carlos would let me know if something was up and I already had too much on my plate as it was!

Maria and I talked a little longer, and soon she gathered her things up to go home and rest. "Stephanie, call me and let me know if you'd like me to come back tonight, or one day this week. You'll need your rest you know!"

"Thanks Maria. Carlos will work out a schedule or something I'm sure. I want to be here as much as possible, but I know I have to look out for these little ones too." I rubbed my still flat stomach as I said it.

Maria kissed my cheek and left, and Carlos and Lester walked back in. "Babe, it looks like I'm going to need to go back to Trenton today after all. I'll try not to be too long. I'll bring dinner back with me for us. Lester is going to stay here with you until I get back. Your mom will be staying with Trey tonight."

My spidey sense was telling me that something was up. "Ok Carlos. But I thought you didn't have to go back until later in the week."

"Tank called Lester and needs me to come in to the office. I promise I won't be long, ok?"

"Ok. Be careful. Lester, you stayed all night. Are you sure you don't want to go home and rest? Or over to the condo? We'll be fine by ourselves…"

Carlos and Lester interrupted me at the same time. "No!"

They glanced nervously at each other, and then back at me. "Babe, I just mean that I don't want you and Trey left alone. Lester will be fine, and I'll send one of the guys to relieve him later today."

"And Beautiful don't worry about me. I'm fine. This is easy compared to some of the assignments I've been on."

Carlos kissed me goodbye, and kissed Trey as he was sleeping in my arms. Something was definitely up and I planned on finding out just what it was.


	18. Chapter 18

Sorry for the delay in updating. Hope ya'll haven't lost interest in the storyline. Usual disclaimers apply…all characters except Trey, the doctors, and the twins aren't mine. Thanks to JE for the great characters to work with.

_Previously:_

_Maria kissed my cheek and left, and Carlos and Lester walked back in. "Babe, it looks like I'm going to need to go back to Trenton today after all. I'll try not to be too long. I'll bring dinner back with me for us. Lester is going to stay here with you until I get back. Your mom will be staying with Trey tonight."_

_My spidey sense was telling me that something was up. "Ok Carlos. But I thought you didn't have to go back until later in the week."_

_"Tank called Lester and needs me to come in to the office. I promise I won't be long, ok?"_

_"Ok. Be careful. Lester, you stayed all night. Are you sure you don't want to go home and rest? Or over to the condo? We'll be fine by ourselves…"_

_Carlos and Lester interrupted me at the same time. "No!"_

_They glanced nervously at each other, and then back at me. "Babe, I just mean that I don't want you and Trey left alone. Lester will be fine, and I'll send one of the guys to relieve him later today."_

_"And Beautiful don't worry about me. I'm fine. This is easy compared to some of the assignments I've been on."_

_Carlos kissed me goodbye, and kissed Trey as he was sleeping in my arms. Something was definitely up and I planned on finding out just what it was._

The day passed as it normally did. Lester sat in the room with me, but near the doorway, so that he could stop anyone unauthorized from coming in. I have always enjoyed spending time with Les and today was no different. He joked about things going on at Rangeman, and filled me in on all the latest gossip.

Trey slept off and on for the better part of the day. Lester offered to step out while I was nursing, but I used one of the blankets as I had earlier and was able to nurse with privacy. The truth of the matter was that my spidey sense was still going off and I was beginning to wonder what was up with Carlos having to leave.

Finally, when I couldn't stand the curiosity anymore, I gave in and asked Lester.

"Les, do you know why Carlos had to leave? Something isn't right."

Lester hesitated. Those few seconds of silence spoke loudly to me. "Now Beautiful, why are you so suspicious? He probably just had to…"

"Lester, don't lie to me" I interrupted softly. Lester glanced down at the floor, and then at the sleeping form of my son in the crib in the room.

"Steph, I told Carlos you would know something was up. But I really don't have all the details. I wish you'd wait on him to come back and tell you himself, so that you have all the pieces you need to know."

"Lester, please. I need to know. The worry is killing me. If something is wrong I need to know. " I had a horrible thought and caught my breath as my brain ran through possible scenarios. "Oh God, Les! He's being called in the wind again by the government isn't he? He's leaving? Is that it? When does he have to leave? I thought he was finished? I can't do this alone…"

Lester ran to my side. "Steph, honey! Calm down!" He pulled me to him in a brotherly hug. "As far as I know Carlos is not being called up by the government. His last mission fulfilled all of our obligations on our contracts. Right now there is no Rangeman employee that is under contract with the government."

"What is it then Les? Something is up, and I need to know!"

Lester took out his phone and pressed a number in for speed dial. "Yo, Boss. I think you need to speak to Steph. She's getting all worked up and it's not good for her." There was a pause; Carlos must have been telling Lester he was on his way back. "I know Ranger, but she's seriously imagining the worst of everything. I'm afraid she's gonna have a stroke here. Ok…just a second."

Lester handed the phone to me and smiled. "He's on his way, but since I know you won't calm down until you talk to him, use my phone."

I smiled back to Lester and took the phone. "Carlos, what's wrong? I know something is going on."

"Babe, I'm on my way back. I should be there in about an hour. I'll give you all the details then, but Tank received a package in the mail today here at Rangeman. It was addressed to you but it had no return address. Our SOP (standard operating procedure) for items like that, due to your history with crazies, is to open the package to make sure there is nothing harmful inside."

Ranger hesitated, as if uncertain about continuing the story. "What was it Carlos? What was inside?"

He took a deep breath. Not a good sign. "Babe, I'd really rather wait until I'm there with you to continue."

"Carlos, please!" I begged. Time was only going to make me come up with a thousand scenarios that would probably be worse than the truth.

Carlos sighed and spoke softly. "Steph, inside was a note _saying Don't get too attached to your son. He won't be around much longer. Then, you'll be next!_ There was also a stuffed animal with a knife stabbed through it."

I inhaled sharply. My first thought was _'I was so wrong. The scenarios I could have come up within the hour it would have taken Carlos to get here would have most definitely not have been as bad as this reality.'_

I must have been silent for far too long because the next thing I knew I heard Lester speaking in a hushed voice on his phone. He must have taken it from me. My mind was in a panic and nothing made sense! Why would someone threaten Trey? Who would want to hurt him?

As my mind continued to go through endless possibilities of who could want to harm my son, Lester finally spoke sharply enough to me to pull me out of my stupor. "Stephanie! Are you ok? Breathe Beautiful. You're scaring me."

I gasped for breath. I didn't realize that I had been holding my breath all along. The edges of my sight went fuzzy as oxygen flooded my system and I must have looked pretty bad because Lester picked me up and placed me in the recliner that was in the room. "Steph, just lie back for a few moments and take some deep breaths. Carlos will be here soon. Are you feeling ok? Can I get you something?"

I shook my head no. Finally, after a few minutes of lying on my back and Lester gently stroking my forehead, I found my voice. "Les, why would someone want to hurt my son? Who would do such a thing?"

"Steph, I'm not sure. But I can promise you that no one will hurt him, and no one will hurt you. You have all of Rangeman protecting you, and there's no way we'll let anything happen. Ranger will make sure of it."

I nodded dumbly, having ran out of words. The adrenalin from my earlier conversation with Carlos was leaving my system, and I suddenly felt very tired. And nauseated. I knew if I didn't get something on my stomach, that I would be sick within a few minutes. And as much as I loved Lester, I didn't want to share a repeat of my earlier vomiting episode with him.

"Lester, will you hand me Trey? I need to hold him. I can't explain it. I just need to hold my son. And could you see if there's some crackers or something at the nurses desk? I think I'm going to be sick if I don't get something on my stomach."

"Sure thing. I'm not leaving your sight though, so I'll just call the nurses with the call button."

Within a few minutes the nurses had brought me some juice, a ginger ale, some crackers, and a sandwich. I nibbled on the food slowly while holding Trey and watching him sleep. I ate about a fourth of the sandwich and two crackers, and drank most of the ginger ale.

Lester gave me the 'one eyebrow look' when I pushed the small rolling table away. "Steph, you need to eat more than that."

"I'll try some more in a bit. Right now I'm just tired. I was shaky earlier, and was afraid I was going to be sick."

"How are you feeling now?"

"Tired, but some better."

"Want to try to take a nap? I'll hold Trey."

"No, I'm scared something will happen while I'm asleep."

"Ok, Beautiful. Whatever you want. But if you change your mind, I'm here."

I sat in the recliner and gently rocked Trey. He was sleeping soundly in my arms, and I sat there looking at his beautiful face while praying for God to watch over him. He'd already cleared so many hurdles already. Can't anything just be easy?

Sometime during my thoughts I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew I was screaming as Trey was being lifted from my arms. I instinctively tightened my arms around Trey. Between my screams and my hold on him, he started awake and began crying at the top of his lungs.

"Babe! Calm down! It's just me, Carlos!" I finally looked around and awoke enough to see a very startled Lester near the door, and a very concerned Carlos kneeling beside me. I could see the panic in Carlos' eyes, and knew immediately that I had startled him as much as he had me.

I took a deep breath as I realized that neither I nor my son were in danger, and I held him to me as I tried to quiet his cries. Carlos held me to him, and patted our sons' back gently. "Steph, I'm so sorry I startled you. Lester told me how upset you were, and you fell asleep with Trey in your arms. I was going to lie him down in his crib so that you could rest."

Trey was still crying over being startled, so I continued rocking him. "I'm sorry Carlos. I must have dozed off, and when I felt Trey being lifted from my arms I panicked. I guess I frightened him." Tears leaked out of my eyes as I realized how scared Trey must have been when I screamed and tightened my hold on him. I pulled him closer to me, and spoke to him gently.

"Hey, little man. I'm sorry I scared you. It's ok. Nothing is wrong. Mama and Daddy are here."

I rocked him until he calmed a little, and Carlos stayed kneeling by my side until his cries were nothing but soft hiccups.

"Babe, why don't we let Lester hold Trey and we'll step into the restroom and get you cleaned up a bit from your crying? Can I take Trey?"

The fact that Carlos asked to take his son showed me just how much I startled him. I nodded and handed Trey over to him gently. He placed a soft kiss on Trey's head, and then handed him to Lester. He held his hand out to me and then led me to the restroom that was in Trey's room. He shut the door softly behind him and sat me down on the closed toilet seat. He grabbed a clean washcloth from the shelf in the room, and then wet it with warm water from the faucet. He knelt again beside me, and gently washed my face. He spoke as he was taking such gentle care of me.

"Babe, I'm sorry that I startled you. I should have awakened you before trying to take Trey from your arms. I just wanted you to rest as long as you could. But please don't worry too much over the letter. I promise you that nothing is going to happen to our son. And nothing is going to happen to you. I will catch the SOB that dared to threaten my family. We've worked too hard to finally be where we are now, and I'll be damned if I'll let some idiotic psycho screw with us. Do you trust me, Babe?"

I nodded and spoke a soft "Yes".

"Then trust that I will take care of everything. Just concentrate on staying healthy for our children, and taking care of Trey. We'll get through this together, Babe. I promise."

Carlos pulled me into a strong hug and I felt myself finally relax against him. He gently rubbed my back and I knew that he would do everything in his power to make good on his promise.


	19. Chapter 19

Sorry for the delay in updating. Hope ya'll haven't lost interest in the storyline. J Usual disclaimers apply…all characters except Trey, the doctors, and the twins aren't mine. Thanks to JE for the great characters to work with.

_Previously:_

"_Babe, I'm sorry that I startled you. I should have awakened you before trying to take Trey from your arms. I just wanted you to rest as long as you could. But please don't worry too much over the letter. I promise you that nothing is going to happen to our son. And nothing is going to happen to you. I will catch the SOB that dared to threaten my family. We've worked too hard to finally be where we are now, and I'll be damned if I'll let some idiotic psycho screw with us. Do you trust me, Babe?"_

_I nodded and spoke a soft "Yes"._

"_Then trust that I will take care of everything. Just concentrate on staying healthy for our children, and taking care of Trey. We'll get through this together, Babe. I promise."_

_Carlos pulled me into a strong hug and I felt myself finally relax against him. He gently rubbed my back and I knew that he would do everything in his power to make good on his promise._

Carlos finished helping me wash my face and he held me while I calmed down. We exited the bathroom and found Lester in one of the recliners holding Trey like he was a pro. Ranger spoke up first. "Santos, you look like a natural holding him. Maybe you should rethink the Romeo lifestyle."

Lester looked up and smiled as Carlos pulled me into his arms. "If I could be guaranteed a wife like Beautiful there, and a kid that was as happy as Trey, I just might do that. But then again, I wouldn't want to deprive all those lovely ladies out there that are counting on me."

I rolled my eyes as Carlos chuckled. Lester is a good friend, and it is true that he was a Lothario. But I really think that one day he will settle down when he finds that special someone.

Trey was awake and was starting to get restless. I figured that he was probably due for a diaper change and a feeding. I took him from Lester and made my way to his crib to change his diaper. Carlos and Lester were deep in thought when I heard Carlos asking if Lester was able to get the phone number he had requested.

"Affirmative Boss. I have it right here."

I was just finishing up the diaper, so I took Trey and settled into one of the chairs. "Who are you calling Carlos?"

"Babe, I am going to speak with Trey's doctors about taking him home early. I know they want him to stay here a few more weeks, but with you pregnant, and now the new threat, I would feel better if we were home. There are too many unknowns here in at the hospital, and no matter how safe I try to make it, there's always a chance for failure. And with my family at stake, failure isn't an option."

"But Carlos, what will we do? They won't just let Trey go home yet. He's still having tests ran occasionally, and oxygen at times. And the nurses…"

Carlos interrupted me as he came and placed a gentle kiss on my lips to silence me. "Babe, trust me. I'm taking care of everything. I have the number to a pediatric nurse that is a friend of Bobby's. She was a nurse in the military, and when she left the military she started working for a local pediatric clinic. Bobby has already spoken to her, and if we can get the all clear to take him home, then she will come in daily to work with Trey. Also, he'll be exposed to less germs at Haywood than he would here in the hospital. Plus, I am going to contract one of the doctors to come in every few days to check on him and arrange any tests that he requires. If there are things that can't be done at Haywood, then you and I, along with two of the guys, will accompany him either here or to St. Francis in Trenton to have the tests done. It'll be better for everyone all around."

"It's a great plan in theory, Carlos. But what if Trey's doctors won't agree."

"They'll agree, Babe. Trust me."

Two hours later, after a few phone calls and some magic on Carlos' part, we were packing up our belongings to head back to Trenton. Lester had called Hal and Woody to come and pack up our condo, so all of our things would be headed back to Trenton with us. Luckily, Ella had went out and purchased a car seat and stroller combo for us shortly after Trey's birth, and she sent it with Hal and Woody when they arrived in Newark. We hadn't planned on Trey going home so quickly, and with him coming as a surprise and early, we had very few baby things prepared. I said a silent prayer of thanks for Ella, since without the car seat we couldn't take Trey home.

I'm not sure how Ranger managed it all! I say _Ranger_ because the whole operation was executed with military precision. By the time we were to arrive at Haywood, a home respiratory therapist would be there to help Bobby set up oxygen for Trey along with a machine to monitor his breathing. Bobby had oxygen available in the small medical area on the third floor, but supposedly they were bringing some sort of machine that would compress the air in our apartment and make it into concentrated oxygen for Trey to use when he needed it.

We were also leaving the hospital with a portable apnea sensor that would alarm if Trey quit breathing for too long (as preemies are sometimes prone to do) or if his oxygen levels dropped below a certain number. Molly, the nurse that Bobby knew from the military, would be checking in on us this evening, and Ranger had even set her up in a temporary apartment until she could get settled in the area. Turns out she was new to the area and hadn't been out of the military very long. She was living with a couple of friends while she searched for an apartment, and she was more than willing to move into Haywood to help us out. Since Bobby knew her, Ranger trusted her. But he also told me that he was having Tank run a background check and military clearance check on her. Leave it to Carlos to cover everything.

As Carlos and I finished packing up Trey's room- which had been our home away from home for several week- I was stricken by how much I would miss the nurses that had taken such good care of us. We had formed a bond with several of them, and they had been there through the ups and downs to reassure us that Trey was going to be fine. I must have appeared deep in thought, because Carlos came over and pulled me into his arms with a reassuring kiss.

"Deep thoughts Babe?"

"I was just thinking about all of the nurses. And how much I'll miss them. They've all been really good to Trey. And to us."

"I know what you mean. I'm not going to miss this place, but the staff have been very nice. I think the flower arrangement that we sent to the front desk for them, along with the spa gift certificates that will be delivered this afternoon will probably go a long way in telling them just how much we appreciated everything they did."

I looked at Carlos with my mouth wide open. "Carlos! How did you manage that so quickly? We just found out we're going home!"

"Babe, just trust me. I've got my ways, and I wanted to thank them for taking such good care of you and Trey."

I pulled him to me and kissed him deeply. He continually surprises me with his uncanny ability to make every situation better. He's my true north, my safe harbor, and my soul mate. How I got so lucky, I'll never know. It scares me to think about how close we came to never finding true love with each other.

I dressed Trey in a warm outfit that Ella had sent since the wind was slightly chilly outside. Carlos helped me get him settled in the carrier/car seat and then I placed a blanket over him to protect him from getting a chill. I packed a few final things in a diaper bag that my mom and grandma had brought by, and looked around the room to make sure we weren't leaving anything important.

"Babe, looks like that's everything."

"Yes. I think so. Carlos, I'm so nervous about going home. What if something happens?"

"Bobby and Molly are a quick elevator ride away. And if it makes you feel better, they can stay on the couch for the first few nights. We've been taking care of Trey here in the hospital anyway, except for the few times the nurses have to come in for tests or to take him to the NICU for assessment. I spoke with Trey's doctor, and instead of referring me to someone else, he will be coming by three times a week to check on Trey."

"How did you manage that Carlos? This has to be costing a fortune!"

"Babe, the doctor was more than willing considering Rangeman is a rather large contributor to the Newark hospital yearly. Also, our insurance covers a large portion of home care and home therapy for Trey. And what isn't covered by insurance doesn't matter. Remember Babe, no price."

"But Carlos, we have almost nothing at home for Trey. I haven't left the hospital since he was born except to go to the condo and out to dinner with you once. Our families have brought by an outfit or two here and there, and my mom and grandma brought a diaper bag along with some sleepers. But where will he sleep? I have a pump for breast milk, but very few bottles! We need wipes and diapers and clothing! And I'm sure there are things I'm not even thinking of!"

Carlos finished buckling Trey into the carrier and then turned to me and pulled me into his lap as he sat in the chair. "Babe, do you really think I'd take my son home and not have a place for him to sleep? I know you've done everything here for Trey, and have helped take excellent care of him. But the few times that I've been back to Trenton to work have also included preparing a few surprises for you and Trey. Just trust me that we will have most of what we need when we get to the apartment. Eventually we'll need a house. A real home for us. And while we do own several properties in the area, I'd like for you to help pick out something that will be a home for all of us. Right now, until we catch this idiot, Haywood is the safest place for us. And it's close to work and Bobby. The office will have to suffice for a nursery for now. But it'll all work out eventually. Just don't stress out and don't worry. Let me take care of all of the big things Steph. It's not that I don't want you to help, but you're doing so much more than me already. You are the only one right now that can feed Trey unless you pump. And don't forget that you're growing and nurturing our two newest family members. Babe, I'm not trying to take away your choices, but please let me take care of you. Trust me enough to know that I won't let anything happen, and that I'll make sure that my wife and children have everything they could possibly need, when they need it."

Tears were flowing freely from my eyes. Damn pregnancy hormones! How did I ever get so lucky? "Carlos I do trust you! And I love you! Thank you for taking such good care of us. Everything has just happened so quickly! First Trey's birth, then the marriage, and now the two new babies. And a crazy stalker to boot! I just am a little overwhelmed. In a good way- well, except for the stalker. It's all I could ever want or dream of, even though I never really knew I wanted it until I found you. Does that make sense?"

Carlos nodded his head slightly. "It does Babe. I know what you mean. I never in a million years would have thought of myself as father material. And now I'm going to be a dad to four children. Julie will love having two more siblings in addition to Trey. She's already been calling and asking when can she come and see him. We have the perfect life. That's why I don't want you to worry over this latest nut. We'll find them. Whatever it takes."

"I know you will Carlos. I trust you."

Several hours later we pulled into the Rangeman garage to see that Hal and Woody had already made it back. Our things from the condo must have already been unloaded since the truck was empty.

I grabbed the diaper bag along with a couple of bags of things we had at the hospital while Carlos unlatched the carrier from the backseat. We made our way to the elevator, and up to 7. When the elevator doors opened, there were blue balloons in the foyer to the apartment along with a home made sign that said "Welcome Home Trey"! My eyes filled with tears immediately while a soft chuckle escaped from Carlos. This was probably the equivalent of a full belly laugh from most people.

Carlos opened the apartment doors and I stepped inside. So much had changed in the past three months. When I was last here Ranger was in the wind and I didn't even know I was pregnant. Now here I am walking back into our home with a son. It was amazing and yet almost unreal.

Carlos took my hand, while still holding our sleeping son in the carrier with the other hand, and lead me to the home office. I was overwhelmed to see that it had been painted a soft green and trimmed in white. A beautiful crib was in the room that was a rich cherry color. The bedding set was jungle themed with colorful monkeys, giraffes, and elephants. There was even a mobile on the crib that matched! A wardrobe had been brought in that matched the crib ad had a hanging area along with several drawers below. I stepped in the room to open the wardrobe and found that it was full of soft baby clothes that had already been washed and hung on small hangers. The drawers were filled with other baby items, clothes, and receiving blankets. Several expensive looking, plush blankets were neatly folded on a shelf as well. One had already been embroidered with Trey's name along the edge. It hung on the side of Trey's crib.

My eyes fell on a beautiful matching rocking chair in the corner that had a matching foot rest in front of it. I sat in it as I looked around the room and was speechless. Carlos sat Trey's carrier down on the floor and came to kneel beside me.

"Babe, do you like the nursery? I had Ella help me with it, but I picked out most of

the things and colors. I thought it might be something you'd like and would pick out if you could have been here."

I found myself crying again as I tried to formulate the words to express what I was feeling inside. In between tears and hiccups, I managed to speak. "Carlos, you did all of this for me? And for Trey? How? When?"

"Steph, we've been gone a while. I picked a lot of it out right after Trey was born and I saw that he was going to be in Newark for a while. The guys and Louis painted the room and assembled everything. Ella, of course, arranged buying everything that I specified. She picked out most of the outfits, but you and I can go shopping one day when it's safe for you to go out. And when Trey is better. I just didn't want my son to come home to an empty nursery. I was afraid you'd be upset that I did it without telling you at first, but now I'm kind of glad I did. Since we had little time to prepare today…"

I interrupted Carlos for a change. "Carlos I couldn't possibly be upset. Your forethought and preparation means that Trey has a room, and a crib, and clothing, and everything we could possibly need. Thank you for doing this! I love you so much!"

I was still crying and couldn't seem to stop. Carlos seemed to understand and pulled me to him tightly in a hug as I sat in the recliner and he sat on the rocking foot stool. Our brief embrace was interrupted by Trey waking up and starting to fuss.

"Sounds like someone's ready to see their new room."

I laughed at Carlos. "More like he's ready to be rocked and fed, but maybe we can arrange all of the above."

Carlos lifted Trey out of the carrier and handed him over to me after placing a soft kiss on his forehead. I settled him in to nurse and he latched on immediately. He was still hooked up to the apnea monitor that we were given at the hospital, and Carlos arranged the thin wires so that I could rock Trey as I fed him. He took the carrier and placed it in the corner where it would be out of the way and then went about calling Ella for dinner.

Ella had already anticipated our arrival, so dinner was ready and she appeared within minutes with a rolling cart of wonderful smelling food. After arranging the table, she knocked lightly on the doorway of Trey's room where she found me continuing to feed Trey and Carlos lounged out on the floor, relaxing at my feet.

"Come in Ella," Ranger spoke. I looked up and smiled a welcoming smile.

"Oh Ella! Thank you so much for everything you did to make Trey's homecoming so special. I was so worried about not being prepared!"

"Oh nonsense sweet child! I was more than happy to do it. But Carlos picked out most of the things. It's so nice to see you two as a family. I wish I had a camera. This scene is perfect and -long overdue if you ask me." Ella gave Carlos a quick 'one-eyebrow-raised' look, as if to say "you finally got your head out of your ass"!

Carlos had the decency to look slightly embarrassed, well, as embarrassed as Carlos gets. And then he looked to me and smiled. "Thank you Ella. You're right. This is perfect. I'm home with my wife and son. It couldn't be much more perfect."

"Well, I won't bother you two any longer. Dinner is ready and you can leave the dishes and I'll clean up in the morning. I saw Bobby on my way up and he will be here shortly to show you what the home medical group brought by earlier. Ring me if you need anything else. And welcome home. I missed you!"

I spoke up through the lump in my throat. "Thank you Ella. I missed you too."

Trey was finished nursing, so I wrapped him in a thin blanket and laid him in his crib. He had fallen asleep while nursing, so I hoped that he would sleep a little while and I could eat. As Carlos took my hand and we started to walk out of the room, I stopped quickly and realized that I wouldn't be near my son to hear him if something happened. And no one was in the room with him. "Carlos what if he needs me? We've never left him alone at the hospital. Not even for a second. One of us, or our mothers were always with him. I can't leave him in here even though the kitchen is just down the hallway. I know you think I'm crazy, but he's still so little and…."

Carlos smiled and pulled a baby monitor from his back pocket. "Babe, do you really think I'd leave our son in here alone? See the base unit is on the side of his crib there. And here's the receiver. It has a clip so you can put it on your pants or on a pocket. And there's a video feature as well." Carlos pushed a few buttons and a picture of our sleeping son popped up on the screen. "The base unit has a camera built in and relays the video feed to this receiver. You can hear him and see him. Pretty neat, huh?"

Leave it to my security conscious husband to think of everything. "Carlos I love it. This is brilliant!"

We took the monitor to the dining room with us and I sat it on the table so that we both could see Trey as we ate. When we finished, Carlos rinsed the dishes as I wiped the countertops and table, and then we settled on the couch to rest while I held the baby monitor. Bobby came in a few minutes later with Molly, and I was glad to find her not only polite, but genuine as well. I could see us possibly becoming friends. Bobby seemed to be quite smitten with her as well, and the quick looks he gave her didn't seem to escape by Carlos. We left the guys talking in the living room while Molly and I went in the nursery to check on Trey.

Molly gave Trey a quick once over and asked about his eating habits as well as how many diapers he was soiling each day. She took careful notes, and I was relieved to see that she was treating him like a real patient. She noticed my glimpse at her notes and explained that she would set up a chart for Trey so that his pediatrician could look over it when he came in for his visits. Molly took his temperature and Trey didn't like that at all, so after she finished with him, I swaddled him in a blanket and held him while we talked. Molly told me that she was in one of the apartments on four, which I already knew, but also told me that we could call her any time night or day. She only worked part time for the childrens clinic, and Bobby would be available when she wasn't in the building. Turns out they had already worked out a schedule. Also, before my mind could even think of it, she assured me that she planned on showering after work so as not to bring home any germs or viruses or colds to Trey. She assured me that she knew the importance of keeping premature babies healthy and I felt immediately at ease after talking with her.

We joined the guys in the living room, and Carlos stood to take Trey from me. "Babe, you should rest. You have to be tired. I'll hold Trey for a while until he settles down and goes back to sleep. Why don't you get ready for bed?

Bobby smiled at Carlos as he was holding Trey. I looked to him, sensing that he wanted to say something, and finally gave in and asked. "What is it Bobby?"

"Bomber, it's just so good to have you guys back home. I never thought I'd see the day that Bossman here would be holding a tiny baby in this apartment. But it's good. We need this around here. It affirms life and how good it can be, especially after some of the hell we've all seen. This will be a breath of fresh air for Rangeman."

I smiled up at him as Carlos pulled me close. He kissed my temple, and then looked at me as if he were inquiring. Our ESP must have been in sync because I knew what he was asking. I nodded my head as I pulled myself even closer to him.

Carlos smiled his 1000 watt smile and it was Bobby's turn to ask what was up.

"What is it guys? You both look like you've got something to say."

Carlos chuckled again. (I swear it must be something new that they installed in him after Trey was born. I'd never heard him chuckle or laugh in my life!) "We're glad you are happy about Trey being here. And if Trey being here is a breath of fresh air, then when the twins get here it'll be a full blown hurricane!"

Molly and Bobby looked at each other quickly and then to us. Molly laughed and grinned as Bobby stuttered. "You mean…she's…Bomber's….twins…when…how?"

We both laughed at him. Finally I spoke up. "Bobby I would hope you'd know the answer to the how part since you're the medic around here! But yes, we're having twins. We just found out and wanted to wait until we got Trey home to tell everyone. I'm only around 5 weeks, but we've already had an ultrasound and the doctor confirmed it was twins. I have to go for weekly visits, although I'm not sure how our new psycho will affect my appointments."

Molly hugged me quickly. "Congratulations! Were the twins planned? Have you been sick?"

"Thank you. No, they weren't planned. Quite the opposite in fact. But we're happy. We just found out yesterday and I visited the doctor today. I've been nauseated and threw up this morning. So it looks like my pregnancy might not go by as unnoticed as the one with Trey."

"Bobby filled me in on how you didn't even gain weight with Trey. That's unusual, but not unheard of. A lot of pregnancies with twins result in _hyperemesis_ gravidarum, which is just a fancy way of saying you're sick a lot with your pregnancy. It's from all the extra pregnancy hormones from having twins. I can give you some suggestions for helping with it. I'll write them down and bring them by in the morning."

Carlos smiled. "Thanks Molly. We appreciate that. Steph's doctor already said she's a little under weight for where he'd like her to be for the beginning of the pregnancy. We'd appreciate any help or advice."

Bobby did the man hug and complicated hand shake thing with Carlos as he showed them to the door. He returned as I as sitting down on the couch.

"Come on Babe, let's get you to bed."

"But what about Trey?"

"Come on, let me show you."

I walked arm in arm with Carlos, who was still holding Trey, and saw that a portable crib had been set up in our room at the foot of the bed. The leather bench seat that was previously there had been moved to a corner, and the colors of the portable crib matched the colors of our bedding.

"Carlos! You really thought of everything! Did you pick this out?"

"Yep. Ella actually suggested it, since I told her I was worried that you'd be sleeping on the floor in Trey's room."

I smirked at him and stuck my tongue out, even though he was probably right.

"She said her nieces used one of these for several months with their child. She was able to get it in a color to compliment the rest of the room, and the bottom is adjustable so that when he gets older, it can be used as a playpen. It has wheels on one end so it can be easily rolled. I thought that if you decide to work, you could bring it downstairs with you. I think it's called a pack and play. It's really easy to set up."

"Thank you so much Carlos. What would I do without you?"

"You'll never have to find out Babe."

After quickly changing into a pair of Carlos' silk boxers and one of his t-shirts, I snuggled down into the million count sheets that I had missed dearly for the past few months. Carlos placed Trey in his portable crib, and while he got ready for bed, I noticed that there was another baby monitor on the side of the crib. When he came back into the room, he handed me the receiver and I placed it on the bedside table after making sure the volume was up.

We snuggled together as the reality of the day set in. It felt so good to be in each others' arms with our son home as well. Even though there was a crazy psycho stalker out there somewhere, I felt safe and secure. I sighed as I realized just how much I'd missed home. Carlos pulled me closer and kissed me gently. He held me close as we drifted off to sleep. I knew I'd be up in a few hours for a feeding, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I had come to realize that all of my fears about being a Burg wife were unfounded. With Carlos beside me, I knew that I could do anything I wanted. I could be anything I wanted. And I knew I'd be doing it with him beside me, supporting me, and loving me.


End file.
